Sports

AMMAN — The Porto Dead Sea Ultra Marathon kicks off April 3 under the theme “Run to the lowest point on Earth” with local, regional and international participation.

Deputising for HH Prince Firas, chairman of the Board of Run Jordan, Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji said during a press conference held at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) that the municipality will always be a partner to all activities.

“GAM is always keen on supporting national initiatives and programmes that contribute to supporting and developing local communities. Run Jordan, through organising different running events, is keen on promoting positive lifestyles and a healthy Jordanian society,” he said.

“We are proud to be a strategic partner as we bring together everyone for a common goal, to reinforce positive personal values and behaviours, in addition to promoting fitness, healthy living and interaction based on the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah, who gives his ultimate support for socially healthy activities,” he added.

This year’s ultra marathon has the support of Porto Dead Sea as a main sponsor.

Porto’s CEO Fakhri Fouad said: “It is a great opportunity to partner with Run Jordan and promote a healthy lifestyle which we also promote in our projects such as the Dead Sea project in which we have located many activities and opened the door for sport, leisure, cultural and entertainment opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Lina Kurd, Run Jordan deputy general manager, stressed on the fact that all marathons have a family theme.

“We always focus on marketing our marathons as a family event in which all family members can participate and we expect more than 7,000 runners. We thank all our sponsors and supporters and also our runners, who will try to break records in the coming marathon,” she said.

According to Kurd, the marathon consists of four runs: the ultra-marathon (50km), which will start from the 1st traffic light after the 8th Circle towards the Airport Road in front of Total Gas Station at 6am.

“The Half Marathon [21km] starts 3km after the Zero point towards the Amman Tourist Beach near the central vegetable market at 6am. The Fun Run [10km] starts 2km after the Baptism Site at 10am and the 10km wheelchair and visually impaired race begins 2km after the Baptism Site at 9:50am,” she said.

Kurd noted that Run Jordan is also working on the Irbid Marathon in May, the Amman Marathon in October and the Ayla Marathon in December. 

Last year, history was made when wheelchair marathon champion Ali Sawalmeh won the 21km and 10km races at the 21st annual run of the International Dead Sea Ultra Marathon. Sawalmeh dominated the two races after clocking 1h16m41s in the 21km event and 23m39s in the 10km.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s Methqal Abadi won the 50km run and Sudan’s Hanoi Ali won the women’s category.

BARCELONA — Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Sunday’s ‘Clasico’ may have put them four points clear at the top of La Liga but they will be kicking themselves for not taking a host of second-half chances and grabbing the head-to-head advantage.

If Real manage to draw level on points with their great rivals over the remaining 10 games — and they have what looks on paper like a slightly easier run-in — they will snatch the title as they beat Barca 3-1 in Madrid in October.

Head-to-head record is used before goal difference to separate teams with equal points and Real famously pipped Barca to the title in 2006-07 despite having scored 12 fewer goals and conceded seven more.

Any disappointment Barca coach Luis Enrique and the players may be feeling on Monday morning will be outweighed by their joy at seeing off Real at the Camp Nou, thanks to a superb Luis Suarez goal 11 minutes after halftime.

Watched by almost 100,000 fans packed into the giant stadium and millions more around the world, Jeremy Mathieu had put Barca ahead in the 19th minute before Cristiano Ronaldo levelled for Real in the 31st minute.

“For the moment it is the most important goal I have scored for Barca and it has an extra significance considering who we were playing,” a jubilant Suarez, who debuted for the club in October’s ‘Clasico’ after a four-month ban for biting, told reporters.

“There is a long way to go and we know that winning the league is going to be very tough,” added the Uruguay striker. “Just like in all the leagues, you never know what can happen if you relax just a little.”

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti and his players, meanwhile, will be wondering how they let slip a match they seemed to be well in control of after Ronaldo’s leveller.

The Portugal captain was almost completely anonymous in the second half and Real’s Wales winger Gareth Bale also made little impact.

“In the end we suffered because of a slight lack of cool heads in our efforts to equalise,” Ancelotti told a news conference.

“We played too many long balls without a clear idea,” added the Italian. “It was a good hour, and 30 minutes that weren’t so good.”

Spain 

Sevilla piled the misery on Villarreal with a Coke strike setting them on the way to a 2-0 victory in La Liga following their midweek Europa League triumph over the same opponents. 

England 

Chelsea are six clear with a game in hand at the top after a 3-2 win at Hull City but the main drama was in the fight for the fourth Champions League qualifying place with Juan Mata scoring twice in Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Liverpool.

Steven Gerrard was sent off for stamping on Ander Herrera 38 seconds after coming on as a halftime substitute as United moved five points clear of their fifth-placed rivals.

Arsenal are a point ahead in third after a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United with second-placed Manchester City a further point in front following a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion which featured another referee sending off the wrong player. 

Germany 

Borussia Moenchengladbach shocked Bayern Munich with a 2-0 victory but the champions are 10 points clear at the top of the table despite their first home loss in almost a year.

Brazilian Raffael struck twice for Gladbach, who stayed firmly in third place and on course for the Champions League, with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg seven points ahead after stumbling to a 1-1 draw at Mainz 05.

Bayer Leverkusen beat Schalke 04 1-0 courtesy of Karim Bellarabi’s winner in their battle for a Champions League playoff spot, opening up a six-point gap to the fifth-placed Ruhr Valley club. 

Italy

Juventus triumphed 1-0 at home to mid-table Genoa after striker Carlos Tevez scored a magnificent first-half goal and later missed a penalty.

Juve’s third straight victory by the same scoreline meant they maintained a 14-point lead over AS Roma, who won 1-0 at Cesena.

Jeremy Menez scored twice to help beleaguered AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-1 in front of a sparse San Siro crowd as fans responded to a request to boycott the match in protest at the club’s leadership.

France

Paris St Germain went top of Ligue 1 with a 3-1 home win over Lorient on Friday and stayed there after Olympique Lyonnais, a point behind, slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat against 10-man Nice on Saturday.

Olympique de Marseille, a point further back in third, thumped Racing Lens 4-0 away on Sunday with Michy Batshuayi grabbing a double. 

Netherlands 

Anass Achahbar scored two dream goals for Feyenoord as they beat runaway leaders PSV Eindhoven 2-1 to delay their opponents’ march to the Dutch league title.

PSV’s slip enabled champions Ajax Amsterdam to cut the gap at the top to eight points when Davy Klaassen conjured up a late winner in their 1-0 home victory over ADO Den Haag.

Portugal

Portuguese league leaders Benfica suffered a 2-1 defeat at Rio Ave, succumbing to two late goals and briefly offering unexpected hope to their nearest pursuers.

However, Porto, Benfica’s major rivals for the title, missed out on a golden opportunity to close the gap at the top to one point after only managing a 1-1 draw at Nacional de Madeira.

Greece 

Olympiakos Piraeus moved closer to a 42nd Super League title as a 3-0 home win against Kerkyra extended their lead to nine points over second-placed Panathinaikos, who suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Veria.

Third-placed PAOK Salonica’s season continued to unravel with a 3-1 loss at Panthrakikos.

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U-23 football team has started the final countdown to the Olympic qualifiers which are now set to kick off on April 2.

The postponement of the qualifiers from March 25 has given the squad some extra time to prepare for Group B
qualifiers which include Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait.

A total of 43 teams will play in 10 groups of five or four teams. The top team from each of the groups in addition to the top second placed team from groups that have five teams will move to the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship which will take place in Qatar in January 2016 from which the top three advance to the 2016 Summer Olympics football tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The team just concluded a training camp in Bahrain where it beat its hosts 2-1 and Bseiteen Club 1-0. The squad also had a training camp in the UAE, where it lost to Iraq 2-1 after it beat North Korea 3-1 and held it 2-2. 

The team’s head coach Jamal Abu Abed expressed satisfaction with the latest camps although initially the team was late to fully regroup as players were on duty with their club teams in the Jordan Professional League, the AFC Cup and the national team. 

The Jordan Football Association (JFA) competitions committee this week announced they would delay the restart of League matches until the Olympic team concludes the qualifiers. The League which was slated to restart on April 2 will now start on April 16, with the Jordan Cup semis slated for June.

“We need to provide the U-23 team with the best possible set-up while also being fair to clubs and national teams. Therefore, the JFA decided to postpone League matches so players would be able to join both squads,” JFA Secretary General Fadi Zureiqat told the media.

Players on Jazira and Wihdat line-ups have AFC Cup matches, while the national team agenda includes qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup which will be expanded from 16 to 24 teams, with the qualifying process doubling as part of the qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Last year, the U-23 team represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it reached the quarters. The team won a bronze medal at the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship after beating South Korea. The event, which has now been renamed the AFC U-23 Championship, saw Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

Before the latest matches, the squad hosted Oman, losing 2-1 and winning 1-0. It beat Uzbekistan 2-1, held Iran 2-2 and 1-1, held Kuwait 1-1 twice and drew 0-0 with Qatar. The team finished second at the Palestine International Championship and hosted the England C squad in a historic match, losing 1-0. 

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Nash announced his retirement Saturday, quietly ending a 19-year NBA career that included two MVP awards.

After playing in just 65 games over the past three seasons due to injuries, the 41-year-old Canadian playmaker formalised his departure with a letter on The Players’ Tribune, a website where he is a senior producer.

“I will likely never play basketball again,” wrote Nash, who hasn’t played at all this season. “It’s bittersweet. I already miss the game deeply, but I’m also really excited to learn to do something else.”

The eight-time All-Star is third in NBA history with 10,335 assists, trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Nash also is the best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 90.4 per cent, barely edging Mark Price.

While thanking a lengthy list of former teammates and influential mentors in his letter, Nash wrote of his lifelong love for basketball and his relentless desire for improvement.

“The greatest gift has been to be completely immersed in my passion and striving for something I loved so much — visualising a ladder, climbing up to my heroes,” Nash wrote. “The obsession became my best friend.”

Although his career wound down awkwardly with the Lakers, Nash will be remembered for his incredible prime with the Phoenix Suns. The speedy, sharp-shooting point guard changed the professional game and won the league MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 during a dominant stretch as the catalyst for coach Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo offence.

“It will always hurt that Phoenix Suns fans didn’t get the championship they deserved during our run,” said Nash, who spent 10 seasons in Phoenix during two tenures with the team.

“Yes, we had some bad luck, but I always look back at it and think, ‘I could’ve made one more shot, or not forced a turnover, or made a better pass.’ But I don’t regret anything. The arena was always sold out and rocking. It was the time of my life.”

Nash was born in South Africa, but grew up in British Columbia and starred in college at Santa Clara. After starting his NBA career with two quiet years in Phoenix, he rose to prominence with the Dallas Mavericks during the 2000-01 season alongside Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki, reaching the Western Conference finals.

After re-signing with Phoenix, Nash and D’Antoni led the Suns to the conference finals again, but repeatedly fell short of the NBA finals in painful fashion. Nash led the NBA in assists five times in seven seasons while scoring at least 14.7 points per game in each year, and he became one of just 10 players in league history to win consecutive MVP awards.

Nash’s success led to a proliferation of the sport in Canada, which has produced a stream of top-level players who grew up watching his success. Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins were the top picks in the last two NBA drafts.

Nash never had success with the Lakers, who mortgaged their future to sign him to a $28 million contract in 2012, trading four draft picks to Phoenix in a bid to build a championship team around Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

Nash, whose health problems began in Phoenix, agreed to the move so he could chase his first championship while still living fairly close to his three children with his ex-wife.

But Nash struggled with injuries in Los Angeles from his second game, when he broke a bone in his left leg. After managing just 15 games last season, a persistent back problem prevented Nash from suiting up at all this year, making his retirement a long-expected formality.

“When I signed with the Lakers, I had big dreams of lifting the fans up and lighting this city on fire,” Nash wrote. “I turned down more lucrative offers to come to LA because I wanted to be in the ‘fire,’ and play for high risk and high reward in my last NBA chapter.”

Nash remembers a standing ovation from Staples Centre fans when he returned to the court last spring as “one of my best memories”.

Nash has said he agreed to delay the announcement of his retirement last fall because the Lakers hoped to have a chance to trade his expiring contract for assets at the trade deadline last month. Nash is making $9.7 million this season and his deal counts against the struggling Lakers’ salary cap.

Nash, a part-owner of MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps, hasn’t decided what he’ll do now that basketball isn’t his primary pursuit and muse.

“Obviously, I value my kids and my family more than the game,” Nash said. “But in some ways having this friend — this ever-present pursuit — has made me who I am, taught me and tested me and given me a mission that feels irreplaceable. I am so thankful. I’ve learned so many invaluable lessons about myself and about life. And of course I still have so much to learn.”

AMMAN — Jordan’s top athletes will be honoured at the Annual Black Iris Sports Awards on Monday, an annual ceremony commemorating 2014 sporting achievements of Jordanian athletes.

Rana Qubbaj and Eman Al Adayleh have already won their respective categories, Best Sportswoman and Best Young Achiever – Female respectively.

In the Best Sportsman category, the nominees are Odai Al Hindawi (Boxing), Abdel Rahman Al Masatfeh (Karate) and Mohammad Salameh (Muay Thai). For Best Young Achiever – Male the nominees are Zaid Al Halawani (Taekwondo), Obadah Al Kisbeh (Boxing) and Hamzeh Qattan (Taekwondo).

The nominees for Best Paralympic Athlete are Khetam Abu Awad (Table Tennis), Moutaz Al Juniadi (Weightlifting) and Abdel Kareem Khattab (Weightlifting).

Over 125,000 votes were collected for this year’s edition of the Black Iris Awards, as voting was conducted via the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) Facebook page and the JOC website.

“The Black Iris Awards are a great opportunity for the community to recognise the sporting excellence in Jordan and for our talented athletes to be honoured properly,” said Lana Jaghbeer, the JOC secretary general. “We look forward to having a great event.”

BARCELONA, Spain — A surging Barcelona have overhauled Real Madrid in the Spanish league standings, and the team now have the chance to open up a significant gap in the second “clasico” of the season on Sunday.

Barcelona are on a run of 17 wins in their last 18 games and lead the league by one point, while Madrid are a shadow of the side that ended 2014 on a Spanish record 22-match winning streak that included a 3-1 win over the Catalan club.

Regardless of the teams’ contrasting form, one constant will remain: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will again vie to leave their mark on one of the most hotly contested rivalries in football.

“We face the match with a lot of respect,” Messi said. “Madrid never plays poorly and when they appear to be struggling, they are even more dangerous. They have incredibly talented players, and we have to respect them more than ever.”

Here are some more things to know about this weekend’s matches: 

Turning the tide 

Barcelona appeared to be on the brink of a breakdown following a loss at Real Sociedad in early January. That was followed by a chaotic week that included the firing of its sport director and president Josep Bartomeu calling for early elections in the offseason.

The team has responded in incredible fashion. Barcelona have reached the final of the Copa del Rey, the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and has passed Madrid in the league.

Madrid have gone the other way. Injuries and tougher competition have transformed the once invincible European champions into a vulnerable side. The team has nine wins, two draws and five losses since the winter break.

Madrid will arrive at Camp Nou the better rested team after not having played since last Sunday. But Barcelona remains on a high after a second convincing victory over Manchester City on Wednesday, when they eased into the Champions League quarter-finals for a record eighth straight season.

“We are strengthened by the win [over City],” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “We have the important advantage of playing at home, but in many cases that isn’t decisive. To talk about being favourites is risky and pretentious.”

Messi vs Ronaldo

There is no secret to Barcelona’s success: Messi is back to playing at a level reminiscent of his best days under former coach Pep Guardiola.

Luis Enrique has moved Messi back to his original position on the right side of Barcelona’s attack, and Messi is flourishing both as a scorer and in his newfound role as the team’s best passer and playmaker.

Not surprisingly, Madrid’s troubles coincide with a dip in form from Ronaldo.

Ronaldo once held a big lead over Messi in goals scored in the league, 23-13 through 15 matches. Messi has since gone on a scoring streak with 19 goals in the last 12 games, while Ronaldo has notched five. Messi now leads Ronaldo 32-30 in the league and 43-41 overall.

Midfield battle 

The game may well be decided in the midfield, where Madrid have finally managed to match Barcelona by bringing in strong passers like Toni Kroos and Francisco “Isco” Alarcon.

Madrid will be without James Rodriguez with a broken foot, while Javier Mascherano should seamlessly fill in for Barcelona in place of injured stopper Sergio Busquets.

The question then for Luis Enrique is whether to play Jeremy Mathieu or Marca Bartra alongside Gerard Pique in defence.

MADABA — Mohammad Kukhun on Friday was crowned champion of the first round of Jordan Drift Championship “Kumho Drift” with the participation of 31 drivers at the Arena racetrack in Madaba.

Kukhun clocked 1m 27.55s in his BMW A46 and collected 519 points followed by his brother Omar Kukhun (1m29.45s, 506 points) in his BMW A36 and Othman Takriti (1m22.58s, 490 points) in his BMW A30.

The winner expressed his happiness after the event saying it was well organised by Jordan Motorsport, and the challenge was really tough and outstanding.

“As it shows this season’s championship will have a lot of challenges and fans. Some of the curves were tricky but I managed to do well and take first place,” he said.

Drivers were judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), Showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).

“A total of 31 drivers participated in the event and only 11 drivers qualified for the second round. In the third and final round only seven drivers qualified which shows how hard and tough it is to impress the judges,” Jordan Motorsport CEO Othman Naseef told The Jordan Times.

“Fans and the drivers really enjoyed the first drift,” he added. 

Drifting was introduced for the first time in a controlled environment in 2014 and found positive response from all auto fans.

BARCELONA — Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona overwhelmed Manchester City as Ivan Rakitic’s strike secured a 1-0 win on Wednesday that sent the Spanish giants into the Champions League quarter-finals 3-1 on aggregate.

Only a magnificent performance by goalkeeper Joe Hart saved City from a heavy defeat and Sergio Aguero’s feeble late penalty miss proved insignificant for the outclassed English champions.

“I expected City as they played. It was a game with a lot of chances where we could have finished it off a lot earlier,” Barca coach Luis Enrique told reporters.

“We got what we wanted which was to go through to the next round and I am happy with the display. We played well and this is a big boost for us at this stage of the season.”

Messi has been in blistering form and he delighted the home fans in a packed Camp Nou by relentlessly teasing the City players with his party tricks.

Holding the advantage from the first leg, Barca could afford to sit back and hit the Premier League side on the break.

Cool lob

City struggled badly in defence against Barca’s pace and movement and the breakthrough came after 31 minutes when Messi found Rakitic who coolly lobbed the ball over Hart.

Barca hit the woodwork through Neymar and Luis Suarez, and keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved Sergio Aguero’s weak penalty in a victory that enabled the Spanish side to reach the quarter-finals for a record eighth successive year.

It was the second straight season that City have been knocked out by Barcelona at this stage and meant there will be no English representative in the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite competition.

City’s hopes depended on having a tight defence, but under-fire centre back Vincent Kompany gifted the hosts a golden chance after five minutes, when Dani Alves stole the ball and set up Neymar whose shot came back off the post.

Messi had a shot from a tight angle saved by Hart and the Barcelona forward line were on the receiving end of some wild challenges as City tried to keep them at bay.

Barca increased their stranglehold on the tie when Messi found Rakitic in space to score and Suarez ran through on goal but was denied by a post.

The hosts continued to create clearcut chances in the second half with Neymar missing an excellent opportunity with just the keeper to beat after 75 minutes.

Barca were guilty of sitting on their lead and could have been punished had City been more clinical.

Gerard Pique was adjudged to have fouled Aguero with 12 minutes to play but Ter Stegen saved the Argentine’s tame spot-kick and snuffed out City’s last hope of launching a comeback.

Pellegrini sees City progress

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said his side are making progress despite being handed a masterclass by Barcelona for the second season in a row.

The City boss tried to remain upbeat after his expensively-assembled squad were left facing up to another European disappointment.

City’s owners have spent more than £300 million ($448.35 million) since the start of the 2011-12 season in an effort to compete with the continent’s elite, but they were torn apart in the Camp Nou.

While they could have snatched a draw had Sergio Aguero scored a late penalty after Ivan Rakitic’s first-half opener, it would have given a misleading impression of a game in which they were clearly second best.

“I wouldn’t say it was a failure but a disappointment,” Pellegrini told a news conference.

“We are improving. We have reached the last 16 for the last two years and we have been unfortunate to have faced Barcelona both times.

“If we had scored the penalty then it would have given a different story to the game but Barca were a better team than us.

“We now have nine games to play in the Premier League and we will try to be champions.”

The pressure is growing on Pellegrini with the team also stumbling in the Premier League, where they trail leaders Chelsea by six points, having lost two of their last three matches.

“About my position it is not the time to talk about it and we will discuss the situation of the team at the end of the season,” Pellegrini added.

“The thing is that if we had played against another team then maybe we would have gone through.”

Pellegrini admitted that they were overrun in defence but said that City had had to attack to overturn the first-leg defeat.

“We had to score two goals in order to go through and so we had to take risks,” said Pellegrini.

“Still we looked to keep players back in defence because we knew about the threat that Barca also have in attack.”

AMMAN — The first round of Jordan Drift Championship kicks off on Friday with the participation of more than 45 drivers at the Arena racetrack in Madaba.

Jordan Motorsport CEO Othman Naseef told The Jordan Times that drifting popularity is picking up fast.

“Last year, we have seen excellent response from both fans and drivers and people really enjoyed watching drivers expressing their skills in their turns and drifting capabilities and based on the success of last year we are starting this season with the first round this Friday,” he said.

“Drifting used to be held at SOFEX but because it is being rehabilitated according to international standards of the FIA we are moving drifting to Arena racetrack in Madaba,” he added. 

Drifting was introduced for the first time in a controlled environment in 2014 and found positive response from all auto fans. 

“The event consists of three rounds with the last round hosting best 13 drifters. Drivers will have to own special drift driving licence and they will be judged by a committee of experienced drivers,” he said.

“These judges have the right combination of experience and knowledge needed to judge such events and we hope that everyone will just enjoy this event,” he added.

Drivers will be judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).

“Drifting is a kind of driving technique used by drivers through oversteering and causing a loss of traction whether in the rear wheels or all tyres while controlling a certain entry to exit of a corner,” he said.

Last year, four drifting events were held with Ahmad Daham winning the championship with 85 points followed by Mohammad Al Kukhun (82 points) and Rafat Haron ( 78 points). 

BARCELONA — Atletico Madrid showed their typical battling spirit to edge out Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday but last year’s Champions League finalists will be mighty relieved to have advanced to the last eight after once more failing to sparkle in attack.

The joy of Atletico’s first penalty shoot-out triumph in Europe will diminish once the dust settles on a narrow victory that did little to suggest they had rediscovered a cutting edge up front.

Midfielder Mario Suarez’s first half effort was the only goal either team could muster at the Calderon, his goal levelling up the tie after Diego Simeone’s side had lost 1-0 away in Germany.

It was a scrappy match in which Leverkusen failed to take several chances of their own before Suarez’s decisive intervention.

Atletico improved as their game progressed but only managed to put the visitors under any sustained pressure towards the end of normal time.

Mario Mandzukic was restored to the starting lineup, having been relegated to the bench for two games as well as missing the 0-0 draw with Espanyol in La Liga last weekend through suspension.

However, he failed to provide the solution for a faltering Atletico attack that has now scored just two goals in the last five games in all competitions.

The run has also seen the La Liga champions drop down to fourth place in the domestic standings.

Fernando Torres replaced Mandzukic after 82 minutes as Simeone’s side looked for a winning goal but the Spanish striker was unable to prevent the tie from going to penalties.

“In the Champions League it is very difficult and the Last 16 is not as easy as people think,” Torres told reporters.

“We controlled the game but we did not find it easy to score. Then in the penalties, it is down to the team with the most luck.”

Torres scored Atletico’s fifth penalty and it was a special night for the homegrown talent. After spells at Liverpool and Chelsea, he moved to AC Milan and is currently on-loan at his boyhood club from the Italian outfit.

“I was looking forward to experience matches like this at the Calderon,” he said.

“It was incredible and I only have words of thanks to the fans who backed us right to the end. There is no doubt that I made the right decision to come back here.” 

Simeone gets ‘goose bumps’

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone admitted to having “goose bumps” after his side overturned a first-leg deficit and knocked Bayer Leverkusen out of the Champions League.

Each side failed with two spot kicks in the shootout before Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling sent a wild effort over the crossbar with the Bundesliga side’s fifth penalty to send Atletico through 3-2.

The shootout success, Atletico’s first in four attempts in European competition, kept their dream alive of a second straight appearance in the final after they were beaten 4-1 after extra time by neighbours Real Madrid in last season’s showpiece in Lisbon.

“I am among the eight best teams in Europe again with Atletico and it gives me goose bumps to say it,” Simeone told a news conference.

“The fans delight me,” added the Argentine. “The supporters don’t realise the strength they give the players.”

There was more good news for Atletico fans with Simeone’s sister and agent Natalia hinting to Spanish television broadcaster TVE that her brother had agreed to extend his contract beyond 2017 when his current deal expires.

Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt was gracious in defeat, congratulating Atletico and praising his own players for their efforts.

“We are a young team with little experience and it is not easy to hang in there at a stadium like Atletico’s,” the German told reporters.

“In the shootout we lacked concentration and calm. After fighting so hard we are very disappointed. But the players gave their all and so we leave feeling satisfied.”

The draw for the quarter-finals is on Friday, with holders Real, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Porto and Monaco already through.