On This Day In 2015: Chicharito Sends Real Madrid To The Champions League Semi-finals With A Late Winner Vs Atletico

Atletico Madrid had given Real Madrid hell for nearly 180 straight minutes. After a scoreless draw at the Vicente Calderon in the first leg of the 2015 Champions League quarter-finals, Atletico frustrated Real Madrid for most of the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

In the 75th minute, to their own undoing, Atletico finally budged defensively when Arda Turan was sent off. 13 minutes later, Chicharito Hernandez — on a night where Real Madrid were depleted in midfield and Sergio Ramos had to play as the team’s defensive midfielder — scored a later winner to put Real Madrid through:

Real Madrid have fond memories of that season (and obviously some bad ones). Ronaldo’s one-two with James to set up the goal is a nice reminder of just how good James was in the 2014 / 2015 season. Ultimately, the team fell to Juventus in a horrific courtesy of an Alvaro Morata goal in the semi-finals. The team, as good as it was, burnt out, and didn’t have enough depth.