Conor Gallagher's Penalty Woes as Benfica Crush Atletico

Conor Gallagher’s penalty concession marked a challenging night for Atletico Madrid as they faced a heavy defeat to Benfica, who maintained their perfect start in the Champions League. Benfica opened the scoring early with Kerem Akturkoglu netting a composed goal in the 13th minute to give the Portuguese side the lead. Atletico made a triple substitution at halftime introducing Gallagher among the changes.

However, just four minutes later, a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review determined that Gallagher had fouled Vangelis Pavlidis in the penalty area resulting in a penalty for Benfica. Former Real Madrid star Ángel Di María stepped up and converted the spot-kick doubling Benfica’s advantage. Conor Gallagher’s struggles continued as he was outjumped by Alexander Bah during a corner allowing Bah to head in Benfica’s third goal in the 75th minute.

The situation worsened for Atletico when Orkun Kökçü added a fourth goal from another penalty after a careless foul by Reinildo Mandava. Throughout the match, Atletico faced multiple setbacks including Pavlidis hitting the post just before halftime and Samuel Lino striking the crossbar with a mishit cross while Atletico was still trailing 1-0.

Despite winning their previous match against RB Leipzig 2-1, Atletico could not replicate their success against a strong Benfica side that had narrowly defeated Red Star Belgrade 2-1 in their Champions League opener last month. With this defeat, Atletico Madrid will need to regroup and improve their performance in upcoming fixtures while Benfica looks set to continue their impressive form in the tournament.