Porto 2-1 Atletico Madrid: Atletico out of Europe as hosts win group

Atletico Madrid will not contest European football in the second half of a season for the first time since 2010-11 after a 2-1 defeat to Porto saw them finish bottom of Champions League Group B.

Diego Simeone's men would have secured a spot in the Europa League with a third-place finish, but an underwhelming display at the Dragao on Tuesday ensured Bayer Leverkusen — who drew 0-0 with Club Brugge — took that spot.

Porto needed only five minutes to take control as Mehdi Taremi got a poacher's goal, and that was followed before the half-hour mark by an emphatic Stephen Eustaquio strike.

Atletico livened up towards the end, seeing an Antoine Griezmann strike contentiously wiped out and Ivan Marcano put into his own net, but that came too late to make a difference.

The hosts meant business right from the start and raced into a 1-0 lead. Pepe's reverse pass into the right side of the box released Evanilson, and his scuffed shot found Taremi for a tap-in.

Galeno then wasted a gilt-edged opportunity but made up for his wastefulness in the 24th minute, beating Stefan Savic to the ball out wide before cutting it back for Eustaquio to blast into the bottom-left corner.

Chances were rare after the break until Atletico thought they pulled one back when Griezmann found the top-right corner with 22 minutes left.

But referee Daniele Orsato controversially disallowed it for an apparent foul by Rodrigo De Paul in the build-up and there was no VAR reprieve.

Atletico did eventually net in stoppage time as Marcano diverted Yannick Carrasco's corner past his own goalkeeper, but it was scarcely even a consolation for Simeone's team.

What does it mean? Unrecognisable Atletico lacking identity and out of Europe

Atletico have rarely been exciting throughout Simeone's tenure, but you can generally expect them to fight and work hard. That is the minimum expectation.

It took them far too long to show any spirit here. Granted, they may have already been out of the Champions League, but they still had the opportunity to secure Europa League football.

Los Colchoneros beat Porto on matchday one but their campaign has unravelled since then — they can have few complaints about their lack of European football in the new year.

Taremi carves Atletico open

There were several outstanding performances on the Porto team, but it is difficult to look past Taremi as their main inspiration.

His goal was one of six shots, more than anyone else, and he also laid on a match-high four key passes, with so many of Porto's best attacks going through him.

Joao Felix struggles on return to Portugal

Unsurprisingly jeered throughout due to his ties to Porto's rivals Benfica, the hostile reception proved a fitting soundtrack to Joao Felix's pretty miserable day at the office.

Neither of his two shots were clear-cut chances and he struggled to get involved in Atletico's build-up play. In fact, they looked much more of a threat after his 61st-minute withdrawal, which will not endear him to Simeone at a time when the Portuguese forward is struggling for game time.

Key Opta Facts

Porto have won four consecutive games in the Champions League for the first time since December 2018 (5), while they have reached the knockout stages of the competition for the first time since 2020-21.

Atletico Madrid lost all three away games in a single Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.

Atletico are winless in their past five Champions League games (D2 L3) – their longest run without a victory in the competition since December 2009 (9 - D6 L3).

Porto won four of their six group-stage games in this season’s Champions League – only winning more in a single group stage in the competition in 1996-97 (5) and 2018-19 (5).

What's next?

Porto can look forward to Monday's draw for the last 16, while Atletico turn their attention back to LaLiga knowing they do not even have Europa League football to look forward to in the new year.