Atletico Madrid secured their emphatic passage into the quarter-finals of the Europa League with a 5-1 victory away at Lokomotiv Moscow this evening.
The La Liga outfit took a 3-0 lead to Russia from last week's first leg and showed their class again in the second half at the RZD arena to run out 8-1 winners on aggregate.
Fernando Torres bagged a double and Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann were also on the scoresheet, after Lokomotiv full-back Maciej Rybus cancelled out Angel Correa's opener on the night.
A neat one-two with Koke split open the Moscow defence, with a slip from Mikhail Lysov allowing Correa to finish confidently across Anton Kochenkov on 16 minutes.
The tie was already well beyond the hosts but they responded well to force Atletico goalkeeper Axel Werner into action from long-range Jefferson Farfan and Igor Denisov strikes.
Werner could have done better with the 30-yard shot from Rybus, which drew Lokomotiv level within four minutes, but was obstructed by a crowded penalty area after a corner was sent to the edge of the box.
Shots from distance continued to be the theme of the first half, as Manuel Fernandes went close with a left-footed effort which deflected onto the roof of the net. At the other end, Kochenkov tipped a Juanfran piledriver onto the crossbar, and pushed away a powerful effort from Thomas Partey.
Atletico regained their second-leg lead two minutes after the break when Saul expertly guided the ball into the bottom corner from a cross from Filipe Luis, who was later stretchered off on an otherwise flawless evening.
Torres got his first from the penalty spot on 65 minutes, after Griezmann had come off the bench to burst past Vedran Corluka and commit goalkeeper Kochenkov into bringing him down, with the former Chelsea striker slotting the spot kick down the middle.
The Spaniard had his second within four minutes, opening up his body to bend the ball around Kochenkov from a through-ball from Correa, who also provided Griezmann with the final and best of the goals across the tie.
Correa flicked the ball over the head of goalscorer Rybus and teed up the Frenchman for a delicate first-time chip from 15 yards which found the top corner, despite the pressure of him being surrounded by two defenders.
Lokomotiv came close to a late consolation when Anton Miranchuk hit the crossbar, but it was a step too far for the Russians, who were competing at this stage of the Europa League for the first time, against the runaway favourites.
LOKOMOTIV (4-5-1): Konchenkov; Rybus, Kverkvelia, Corluka (Pejcinovic, 76'), Lysov; Miranchuk, Kolomeystev (Tarasov, 63'), Denisov, Miranchuk, Fernandes; Farfan (Eder, 45')
ATLETICO (4-4-2): Werner; Juanfran (Vrsaljko, 45'), Godin, Gimenez, Luis (Lucas, 62'); Saul (Griezmann, 61'), Thomas, Gabi, Koke; Torres, Correa
Joe Fish
