Atlético count the costs of home concessions

Florent Sinama Pongolle pinpointed Club Atlético de Madrid's defensive frailties in the first leg at the Vicente Calderón Stadium as the reason that ultimately led to the Spanish club's away goals elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of FC Porto.

Costly concession
A goalless draw at the Estádio do Dragão in Wednesday's return was not enough for Abel Resino's men, after they conceded what proved to be costly goals in the 2-2 deadlock in Madrid two weeks ago. "Honestly, I think qualification maybe passed us by at our place, when we let them score twice," Sinama Pongolle told uefa.com, the striker acknowledging his attack-minded side had overstretched themselves in the first leg.

'Very solid'
The 24-year-old also said that having ceded control of the tie on their own patch, Atlético had found it tough to play their way back into contention. "Porto had a strong tactical idea of how they wanted to play the match," he said. Sinama Pongolle, who replaced Diego Forlán in the starting lineup, got little change out of the home defence, led by the outstanding Bruno Alves. "They were very solid," he added, "and set themselves up not to concede. They didn't commit too many players forward and they played hard right to the end."

No consolation
The former Liverpool FC forward said his side could not have given more, but found it hard to take consolation from a first UEFA Champions League campaign in 12 years for Atlético, despite the many positives. "We tried to play a big match, like we have before in this season's Champions League," he said. "It's hard to go out of the competition without having lost a match, and quite difficult to accept. We were close, but football's like that sometimes," he concluded.