As the ball crossed the goal line,
the commentary box exploded.
"A goal has been scored! In the 64th minute! Costa has scored a crucial goal, and Atlético Madrid lead 1-0 away to Dortmund! They have a priceless away goal!"
Spanish commentator Mario roared with both arms raised.
This was indeed a vital goal.
Before the semifinals began,
the media had framed this Champions League campaign as a duel between Spanish football and German football.
After Barcelona's 4-0 collapse to Bayern,
many were saying Spanish football had been crushed by Germany this year.
Before this match,
a lot of media outlets were not very optimistic about Atlético's trip to Germany.
The intensity and level of play shown by the German teams had been astonishing.
But now,
Atlético Madrid were actually on top.
They were controlling the rhythm of the match.
Even though they had not launched a full-scale offensive away from home,
anyone who understood football could see that
the tempo belonged to Atlético.
And although this goal had come from what looked like a sudden quick restart,
in a 90-minute match,
any flash of inspiration can produce a goal.
Just like Shane Carter had done there.
Dortmund could not control the rhythm of the game.
Even if Atlético were not attacking all-out, Dortmund's back line could still be broken by a sudden strike.
Just like now.
With an away goal in hand, Atlético Madrid were now closer to the Champions League final than Dortmund were...
On the pitch,
Costa was wildly excited after scoring.
He roared and ran toward the sideline with his arms spread wide.
Halfway there,
he remembered that this goal had mostly come from Shane's sudden quick restart.
So he quickly turned and pointed toward Shane, who was already sprinting toward him.
Then he turned back, patted his own back, signaling for Shane to jump on.
Shane leapt up and landed on Costa's back.
A long line of Atlético Madrid players followed behind them.
The whistles at Westfalenstadion erupted.
Meanwhile on the pitch,
the Dortmund players were surrounding the referee and protesting.
Lewandowski believed Shane's quick restart was not legal.
"We didn't hear the whistle!"
he shouted.
Other Dortmund players were protesting that Costa had been offside.
"Offside! Offside!"
Hummels kept repeating.
On the touchline,
the fourth official was enduring Klopp's nonstop rant.
The Dortmund manager was screaming at him.
"That is not a valid goal! Absolutely not a valid goal!"
he yelled.
But the referee did not change his decision.
He waved the Dortmund players away.
Großkreutz was even booked for protesting too aggressively.
The TV broadcast showed a replay of the entire move.
Shane had been fouled, then immediately got back up, collected the ball again, placed it under his feet, and kicked it forward.
By the laws of the game,
that was perfectly fine.
After a foul, a restart only requires the whistle when the referee specifically needs play to stop—for example, if he wants to issue a card, warn the player, or make sure the restart is not taken early.
Otherwise, as long as the ball has been placed properly and is not moving, it can be played at once.
German Sports Channel's commentator Schmitz knew this too, so he did not dwell on that point.
"Costa may have been offside..."
he said instead.
At that moment, the broadcast was showing the sideline camera angle.
Because the angle was still a bit awkward,
even in the freeze frame,
it was very hard to tell whether Costa or Hummels—the last Dortmund defender—was closer to the goal line at the exact moment Shane passed the ball.
At least with the naked eye, it was hard to judge.
That kind of decision really required professional line-drawing analysis.
But this era did not have that.
Offside was still judged entirely by the assistant referee and the referee.
In a split second like that,
deciding which of two nearly parallel players had the more advanced usable body part was an enormous challenge for the linesman.
Usually in situations like this,
if there were no other messy factors involved,
the assistant referee would trust his first instinct: if he felt Costa was onside, he would keep the flag down.
So in the end,
this was one of those situations where both sides had a case.
Atlético Madrid did not care.
They had scored first in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, and it was an away goal at that.
That was more than enough to celebrate.
By the time they finished celebrating and returned to the pitch,
the Dortmund players had already gone back to their own half.
There was no point in arguing with the referee any longer.
With stoppage time included,
there were still about thirty minutes left.
They still had plenty of time to score.
.....
Dortmund's response was ferocious.
At one point, Atlético Madrid were almost gasping for breath under the pressure.
From that alone, you could tell Klopp's Dortmund were fully in sync and operating at their peak.
Lewandowski was outstanding.
In the 79th minute,
he received a pass in the box, turned with his back to goal, beat his marker, and smashed in a classic center-forward finish!
That equalized the match for Dortmund.
"Lewandowski!! Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!"
German commentator Schmitz shouted in delight.
On the touchline, Klopp went wild after seeing the goal.
He clenched his fists and roared, celebrating with his trademark three-punch motion.
The whole Westfalenstadion seemed to explode.
"One-one! Dortmund have equalized!"
Mario sounded a little disappointed.
But he quickly reassured the Atlético fans:
"If this scoreline holds, Atlético are still in the better position."
And that was true.
Although the score was level,
Atlético Madrid had the away goal.
....
In the final ten minutes,
both sides had their moments.
But thanks to excellent goalkeeping on both ends, neither side scored again.
Only when the referee finally blew the full-time whistle
did the score freeze at 1-1.
"Full time! The match is over! Atlético Madrid have drawn 1-1 away to Dortmund, and that is a good result for Atlético Madrid—they have an away goal..."
Mario said loudly on commentary.
A 1-1 draw was indeed a decent result for Atlético.
But how much of an advantage did it really give them?
Not necessarily much.
Because Dortmund only needed to score one goal away from home to erase that edge.
And in the next leg,
Dortmund's important attacking player Mario Götze would be back from injury.
Götze was hugely important to Dortmund's system.
So far this season,
he had contributed 13 goals and 12 assists.
Losing a player like that obviously affected Dortmund's attack a lot.
And in the next leg,
Götze would be fit again.
That was a major boost for Dortmund.
German commentator Schmitz sounded regretful, but he was still confident about Dortmund's next match.
"Although Dortmund could not win at home, they did equalize after going a goal down, which shows just how strong they are this season. Götze has resumed training. In the next leg, even though the match will be played at Atlético Madrid's home, a fully fit Dortmund side will still have enough attacking power to score away..."
Overall,
Atlético Madrid were satisfied enough to have an away goal.
Dortmund, after equalizing from behind, would be able to go all out in the second leg.
They were not afraid anymore.
The scoreline and the situation left the second leg full of suspense.
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