Atalanta reach the last 16 after defeating Dortmund 4-1
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Atalanta reached the Champions League last 16 after defeating Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in the second leg of their play-off tie at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday morning WIB.
This victory saw La Dea overturn a 4-3 aggregate deficit from the first leg, according to the UEFA website on Thursday.
Dortmund came into the match with a 2-0 lead from the first meeting, but Atalanta were aggressive from the start.
The home side took the lead after just five minutes. A low cross from Lorenzo Bernasconi on the left was intended to be cut out by Ramy Bensebaini, but the ball went to Gianluca Scamacca in front of goal. Scamacca’s shot was unstoppable for Gregor Kobel.
Atalanta almost doubled their lead in the 24th minute after a shot from Nicola Zalewski was saved by Kobel.
Dortmund responded with a chance from Julian Brandt, but Marco Carnesecchi was quick to react.
Atalanta doubled their lead to 2-0 in the 45th minute, after Davide Zappacosta followed up on a loose ball from Kobel’s save and fired a shot from outside the box.
Dortmund increased their attack after falling behind on aggregate. Serhou Guirassy and Fabio Silva threatened, but Carnesecchi was alert in goal.
The visitors’ efforts finally paid off in the 75th minute. Karim Adeyemi broke through on the right before unleashing a curling shot that Carnesecchi could not stop. The aggregate score was now 3-3.
Drama unfolded at the end of the match. Kobel’s mistake in distributing the ball was intercepted by Pasalic, who then sent a cross to Nikola Krstovic.
As Bensebaini tried to clear the ball, he hit Krstovic in the head. After reviewing VAR, the referee pointed to the penalty spot and gave Bensebaini a second yellow card.
Lazar Samardzic stepped up to take the penalty and executed it perfectly. His powerful shot into the top left corner was unstoppable for Kobel, securing a 4-1 victory for Atalanta and a 4-3 aggregate lead.
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Carnesecchi, Scalvini, Hien, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, De Roon, Pasalic, Bernasconi, Samardzic, Zalewski, Scamacca
Borussia Dortmund (3-4-2-1): Kobel, Can, Anton, Bensebaini, Ryerson, Nmecha, Bellingham, Svensson; Beier, Brandt, Guirassy