Fernando Torres scored the winning spot-kick in the penalty shootout against Bayer Leverkusen and admitted it is such games that made him want to return to Atletico Madrid.
Fernando Torres says he returned to Atletico Madrid for exactly the kind of game he experienced on Tuesday as the Spanish champions overcame Bayer Leverkusen on penalties.
Diego Simeone's side progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to a 3-2 shoot-out win following a 1-0 success in normal time which had levelled the tie, with Torres netting what proved to be the winning penalty.
And the second-half substitute admitted afterwards that the atmosphere which was generated through the pulsating second leg was his main attraction when completing his January move from AC Milan.
"I'm very happy to see the fans being happy from the first to the last minute. I wanted to live these nights in the Calderon again," the 30-year-old told Teledeporte.
Torres also paid tribute to Leverkusen, who pushed Atleti all the way despite Mario Suarez's first-half goal having ruled out Hakan Calhanoglu's strike from the first leg.
"That was not easy as people think. We suffered a lot, which made us more cautious. When they began to break the game down we had to regain control," he said.
"When it comes to penalties, the team with the greater decisiveness wins."
Team-mate Antoine Griezmann was also quick to credit their German opponents, but reserved a special word for substitute goalkeeper Jan Oblak. The Slovenian came off the bench to replace the injured Miguel Moya before saving Calhanoglu's spot-kick during the shootout.
"It was a complicated game," said the French attacker. "Leverkusen are great opponents and with the support of the fans we gave everything.
"Am glad we are moving forward in the UCL and want us to try our best to get The trophy, Torres Added.
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