Atletico Madrid have been knocked out of Europe altogether courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Porto, who go through to the Champions League last 16 as Group B winners.
Porto had already qualified for the last 16 but leapfrogged Club Brugge to finish as group winners with 12 points, one point ahead of the Belgians who also went through.
First-half goals from Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustaquio secured all three points for the hosts.
This was in an entertaining contest at the Estadio do Dragao, with Ivan Marcano’s own goal in second-half stoppage time proving scant consolation for Atletico.
Atletico finished last, failing even to qualify for the second-tier Europa League knockout round play-offs.
The Spanish team went to Porto knowing that they needed a win to guarantee Europa League knockout football, but their defeat in Northern Portugal – coupled with Leverkusen avoiding defeat against Club Brugge – sealed their fate in propping up the table.
Porto and Club Brugge had already qualified for the Round of 16 of the competition, but the Portuguese side needed to beat Atletico and hope that Brugge did not win away in Germany to ensure top spot in the group.
With 20 minutes left, Antoine Griezmann beat Diogo Costa to put the ball in the back of the net for Atletico Madrid, who were out of sorts the entire game and comfortably second-best. However, the goal was disallowed due to an earlier foul by Rodrigo de Paul.
The disallowed goal may have been a harsh call by the referee, but in reality, Atletico was lucky not to be farther behind. They can credit goalkeeper Jan Oblak for keeping the visitors in the game with a series of excellent saves throughout. Atletico had a glimmer of hope thanks to an own goal from Yannick Carrasco’s corner, but it was too little, too late.
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Leverkusen, meanwhile, will be heading into the Europa League knockout round playoffs having moved above Atletico into third in the group on the final day, with Brugge finishing second, one point behind Porto.
