Real Madrid faced off against Atalanta in the return leg of the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League being hosted in Madrid at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
A tightly contested first half
For the first 30 minutes, it was a back and forth affair, both teams were in that feeling out process getting good chances to create offense and good chances but were lacking the finish needed.
The home side struck first in the 33rd minute when off a poor kick from the Italian side bounced off Luka Modric's foot who would find the finisher Karim Benzema who would beat the keeper who was way out of his net for the 1-0 lead.
Atalanta was determined to stay in the match despite the fact they were being dominated in possession 60-40 and pushed hard after the goal to try and tie the score.
The first half finished with the Spanish side up 1-0 in the game and 2-0 on aggregate meaning Atalanta would need two goals to advance on away goals.
A strong finish for Real Madrid
At the beginning of the second half, Atalanta brought in their talisman Duvan Zapata looking for a bit more offense and hoping to equalize the game at one.
In a span of five minutes, we saw some amazing chances at both ends, Zapata made an immediate impact getting a great shot on goal but Thibeault Courtois came up with a better save.
Two minutes later Vinicius Jr came up with a scoring opportunity of his very own but his shot would miss the net, finally, Ferland Mendy who had scored the only goal in the first leg got a shot off but it was saved by Pierluigi Gollini.
Five minutes later Vinicius was tripped in the box attempting to get a shot on target and the ref pointed to the spot meaning penalty for the home side.
Sergio Ramos who takes the penalty kicks for Real Madrid stepped up to the spot and scored to make it 2-0 and one step closer to the quarterfinals.
Once again in the 76th minute, Zapata had a great chance to score but was denied by Courtois. We jump to the 83rd minute and the visitors would finally get on the scoreboard when Luis Muriel off a free kick would beat Courtois top shelf to cut Madrid lead to one.
Marco Asensio who had come in as a sub a minute earlier responded right away a minute later getting a great pass from Lucas Vasquez and beating Gollini to make it 3-1.
That goal would seal the victory for Real Madrid who will now play in the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals for the first time in two years.
After the match, Zinedine Zidane was pleased with the result and he mentioned it in his post-game press conference.
" We played a great game. I think it was a complete match from begining to end, we are happy to make it through to the next round, we are in the quarterfinals. From now on it's only going to get more complicated, we know that, now we should enjoy after this match, we are in the quarterfinals "
Real Madrid will now have to wait till Friday when the draw will be made for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals where they will find out who they face in the next round.
The other teams qualified are Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, PSG, Manchester City and the winners of the matchups between Lazio and Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid and Chelsea.