In the absolute final, Atlético Madrid lost a victory with the smallest difference at Lazio. And how! The Madrilenians took the lead in the first half through a deflected shot by Pablo Barrios, but in extra time, goalkeeper Ivan Provedel headed in the 1-1 like an accomplished attacker.
“There was a lot of confusion at that moment,” the Italian international said afterwards. “I couldn’t immediately communicate with the bench, but I saw that there were only 30 seconds left to play and so I moved forward. The goal itself? I watched a lot of Ciro Immobile (laughs). No, I knew that Luis Alberto usually shoots to the far post from that position. We were desperate too, so I hoped he would put the ball there. I didn’t immediately realize what had just happened. I will enjoy this tonight, but in the end we didn’t win.”
The images:
The 29-year-old Italian is now the fourth goalkeeper to score a goal in the Champions League after Hans-Jorg Bütt (3 times for Hamburg, Leverkusen and Bayern in 2000, 2002 and 2009), Sinan Bolat (for Standard in 2009) and Vincent Enyeama (for Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2010).
And he was not ready for his test. Three years ago, Provedel headed in the 2-2 for Ascoli in a match in Serie B against Juve Stabia.
