´It was a siege´ – Torres proud of Atletico after holding off Bayern

Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres likened the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich to a “siege”.

Xabi Alonso’s first-half free-kick cancelled out Atletico’s 1-0 aggregate advantage from the first leg, but Thomas Muller failed to build upon that when he had a penalty saved by Jan Oblak before the interval.

Bayern continued to search for another goal, and they were hit on the counter-attack shortly after the restart when Antoine Griezmann slotted a cool finish past Manuel Neuer.

Robert Lewandowski ensured Pep Guardiola’s side ran out 2-1 winners on the night, but the away goal proved crucial, sending the Spanish side through on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

Torres saw his late penalty saved by Manuel Neuer, and he admitted it felt like Atletico were being subjected to a “siege”, with Bayern relentless in their pressing and attacking.

“It has been a match of much suffering. We were overwhelmed,” he said.

“We could not find a way to put pressure on them. It has been a siege, but sometimes you cannot play the game you want. But it is also nice to win having suffered.

“We have had a very complicated path [to the final], we have beaten the best in Europe. We want to be champions. This team is ready to play against anyone.”

Referee Cuneyt Cakir awarded Atletico’s penalty for Javi Martinez’s tackle on Torres, despite contact appearing to take place outside of the box.

The striker admitted he believed the correct decision would have been a free-kick, but was unconcerned, as the incident ultimately had no bearing on the outcome.

“I thought it was outside the box on the pitch, but the play is quick and sometimes the referee sees where the player goes down,” he added to BT Sports.

“I saw the replay and it was clearly outside, but in the end it didn’t change the final result so we don’t have to think about that.”

Griezmann urged calm from his team-mates ahead of the final in Milan on May 28, with maintaining a challenge to win La Liga their next priority.

“We’re delighted. It was difficult, a really hard game, we had a great opponent in front of us and we had to both defend and try to score,” he said.

“They were better, but we scored an away goal, which was important. We need to keep grounded and first of all think of the Liga before the final.”