SALZBURG, Austria: Yannick Carrasco scored late to seal a 2-0 win for Atltico Madrids at Salzburg on Wednesday that sent the Spanish team into the Champions League knockout stage.
The Belgian forwards 86th-minute goal ensured Atltico finished second in Group A, seven points behind defending champion Bayern Munich, which defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 at home at the same time.
Salzburg, which finished third in the group, needed a win against Atltico to progress to the knockout stages at the Spanish sides expense.
But Atltico relied on luck at times as Mergim Berisha and Enock Mwepu both struck the post for Salzburg.
Berisha set the tone for the game when he struck the post in the second minute.
The home side maintained its early pressure and Dominik Szoboszlai reportedly a winter target for the likes of Leipzig and Real Madrid drew a good save from Jan Oblak in the 16th.
Marcos Llorente went close as Atltico finally responded in the 24th, and the visitors went on to score through Mario Hermoso in the 39th.
Yannick Carrasco sent in a free kick after Joao Felix had been fouled by Zlatko Junuzovic and Hermoso rose to deflect it in past goalkeeper Cican Stankovic.
Szoboszlai could have equalized early in the second half but placed his shot wide of the left post with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The home side also had two penalty appeals denied by VAR reviews
Mwepus effort against the post late on was as close as Jesse Marschs team got before Carrasco met Angel Correas cross with a fine finish to seal the win.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports