Danjuma’s brace and Capoue’s goal sink Gasperini, goals from Malinovskyi and Zapata deceive in the final but not enough
L’Atalanta cade 3-2 at home against the Villarreal in the last race of Group F and greets the Champions League. The Bergamo players, on the field after the postponement due to snow on Wednesday, go under after only 3 ‘punished by Danjuma and at 43 ‘they collect the doubling of Capua. At the beginning of the recovery it is still Danjuma (54 ‘) to close the accounts, before the illusory goals of Malinovskyi (71′) e Zapata (80 ‘). Emery flies to the second round, Gasperini relegates in Europa League.
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THE MATCH
No way. Atalanta fails to hit the third consecutive qualification for the round of 16 and greets the Europe that counts. It does so at the end of an overall evening negative, in which the intense and drumming team of the championship gives way to a slow, predictable and also extremely vulnerable in defense. The final boarding and the ben three woods hit in the second half are not enough to change the judgment of a race in which only the victory was needed and instead the approach was totally wrong. Now it will be up to start over playoffs in the Europa League. Villarreal suffer a lot in the last 20 ‘, but qualify with merit and join the possible opponents of the Juventus to the second round.
Gasperini and Emery do not change the eleven chosen Wednesday evening e the start is really shocking for the hosts: its one clamorous uncertainty of Demiral Parejo retrieves the ball and throws it into the open field Danjuma, who arrives only in front of Musso and stabs him under the legs, bringing his own after just 3 ‘. Gasperini’s men are good at not giving up and reacting immediately, touching the tie after a few minutes with a pumpkin of Toloi, slightly high. The Goddess grinds game using the movements of Pessina and Ilicic, ma struggling to put Zapata in a position to hurt. To scare Rulli then thinks about it Freuler, with a great shot from outside, well rejected by the Argentine goalkeeper. After suffering the opponent’s reaction for a few minutes, Villarreal begins to manage the advantage carefully, covering the spaces well and restarting with quality thanks to the direction of an inspired Parejo. The Bergamo players have a call in the 37th minute with a header on the development of a corner of Demiral, but Rulli is still careful and just before the interval Emery’s men find the double: he does everything Capua, who recovers the ball to the limit, then receives an assist from Gomez and stabs Musso with a torpedo under the crossbar.
At the beginning of the second half Gasperini takes away an evanescent Pessina and a confused Demiral inserting Malinovskyi and Djimsiti, but the restart of the Goddess is disastrous: just 6 ‘from Taylor’s whistle he enters the scene Moreno, which intoxicates Palomino and touches for Danjuma, good at getting rid of Toloi and stabs Musso for the third time. Some individual initiative of Muriel (entered for De Roon) gives some shock to the hosts, who are also unlucky on a couple of occasions: first a free-kick from Malinovskyi splinters the crossbar, then a conclusion from Zapata caress the pole before going out on the bottom. At 20 ‘from the end a left slightly deflected by Malinovskyi he bags himself on the net, restoring vigor to a game that seemed destined to die out. At 80 ‘he thinks about it Zapata to ignite the final, making the most of a nice pocket by Ilicic to bag the 2-3 with a lob on Rulli. The Colombian is one step away from 3-3 just 5 ‘later, but his header is too central to worry the Spaniards’ goalkeeper. Two more minutes pass and it is Muriel to touch the goal of the company, but his right is printed on palo e Toloi blatantly misses the winning tap-in from two steps. It is the last gasp of the evening, which does not change the outcome of a meeting that was decided too soon.
REPORT CARDS
Demiral 5 – A serious uncertainty after just 3 ‘paves the way to victory for Villarreal and condemns his team. In great difficulty in all the one on one, replaced at the end of the first half by a furious Gasperini.
Malinovskyi 6,5 – His entrance restores charge to a dull and unrecognizable team. He hits a crossbar and finds the net with which the Bergamo players try to give the A to comeback. Too late.
Ilicic 6 – He starts with the right attitude, then goes off together with the rest of his teammates in the central part of the match, before returning to the fore in the final with some quality plays of his own.
Danjuma 7.5 – A cold goal that freezes the opponents, then many personal initiatives that turn the head of the Bergamo defense, crowned by a personal brace at the beginning of the second half
Couple 7 – While granting more ball possession to his opponents, he is the one who makes the difference in the middle of the field, verticalizing with great continuity and always finding his teammates with the right times.
Capua 7.5 – First a lot of substance, racing, tackles won and balls recovered. Then the great goal that extinguished Atalanta’s hopes just before the end of the first half.
THE TABLE
Atalanta-Villarreal 2-3
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso 5; Toloi 5.5, Demiral 5 (1 ‘st Djimsiti), Palomino 5; Hateboer 5.5, De Roon 5.5 (9 ‘st Muriel 6.5), Freuler 6, Maehle 5 (45’ st Zappacosta sv); Pessina 5 (1 ‘st Malinovskyi 6,5), Ilicic 6; Zapata 6.5.
Trainer: Gasperini 5.5
Villarreal (4-4-2): Rolls 6; Foyth 6, Albiol 6, Pau Torres 6, A. Moreno 6.5 (43 ‘st Pedraza sv); Estupinan 6.5, Parejo 7 (45 ‘+ 3 st Trigueros sv), Capoue 7.5, Gomez 6 (45’ + 3 st Pena sv); Danjuma 7.5 (43 ‘st Dia sv), G. Moreno 6.5 (36’ st Iborra sv).
Trainer: Emery 7
Referee: Taylor
Markers: 3 ‘e 6’ st Danjuma (V), 42 ‘Capoue (V), 26’ st Malinovskyi, 35 ‘st Zapata (A)
Ammonites: Parejo (V), Muriel (A)
Expelled:
THE STATISTICS
– Atalanta are eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, having qualified for the Round of 16 in each of the two previous editions of the competition.
– Atalanta is the team that has the most different scorers (10) in this Champions League.
– Duvan Zapata is the first Atalanta player to score in three consecutive Champions League matches and the second Colombian after Radamel Falcao for Monaco in December 2017.
– As of last November, only Kylian Mbappé (11) and Robert Lewandowski (10) have taken part in more Top-5 goals than Duván Zapata (9) in all competitions.
– Since his Serie A debut (2019/20), only Leo Messi (21) has scored more goals from outside the box than Ruslan Malinovski (14) in the Top-5 in all competitions.
– Ruslan Malinovskiy is the first player to score Thursday’s Champions League goal with an Italian team since David Trezeguet with Juventus in 2001 against Bayer Leverkusen.
– Atalanta have conceded 13 goals in the group stage of this Champions League: a negative record for the Bergamo players in the first six matches of an edition in the competition.
– Atalanta have conceded at least two goals in four matches in a row for the first time in the Champions League.
– Villarreal have won their last two away matches against Italian teams in all competitions: the Spaniards had not won any of all the top nine.
– The goal conceded against Villarreal at 2:30 is the fastest goal scored by Atalanta in the Champions League.
– The goal conceded against Villarreal at 2:30 is the fastest scored by Atalanta in the Champions League since that of Sterling (6:06), in November 2019, against Manchester City.
– Arnaut Danjuma is only the second Villarreal player to score at least four goals in a single Champions League season, after Joseba Llorente (four), in 2008/09.
– Atalanta had not closed the first half of a Champions League match under at least two goals, since November 2020, against Liverpool (0-2, in the first 45 ‘, still at home).
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