Atalanta followers show a banner within the stands at New Steadiness Enviornment. Picture: REUTERS
BERGAMO, ITALY:
Lazar Samardzic smashed house a stoppage-time penalty to finish a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian facet into the Champions League’s final 16 with a comeback 4-3 mixture triumph.
Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was despatched off after his studs caught the top of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic within the penalty space and Samardzic transformed the spot kick within the 98th minute to ship the Italians by. Atalanta will now face both Arsenal or Bayern Munich within the spherical of 16 with the draw on Friday.
“Everybody had written us off, however this match confirmed as soon as once more how sturdy this group is,” mentioned Atalanta scorer and man-of-the-match Davide Zappacosta. “We at all times imagine and we by no means surrender.”
“Being the underdog provides you additional motivation. You attempt to transcend your limits to show issues round, and we knew we might do it. It was very troublesome, however we’ve proven many instances how sturdy we’re at house,” he mentioned.
The defeat ended Dortmund’s European desires, however Niko Kovac’s group, second within the Bundesliga, might want to bounce again shortly forward of Saturday’s league match in opposition to leaders Bayern Munich, their final probability to problem for any silverware this season.
“Whenever you concede 4 targets within the playoffs, it turns into troublesome to advance,” mentioned Dortmund captain Emre Can. “With so many particular person errors, it is laborious to advance. We additionally had a number of clear-cut probabilities that we did not convert.”
The hosts needed to combat again following final week’s 2-0 loss in Germany, and Gianluca Scamacca tapped in on the far publish to provide them a fifth-minute lead as they received off to a dream begin.
Dortmund had their share of probabilities nevertheless it was their keeper, Gregor Kobel, who was busiest within the first half, twice denying Nicola Zalewski. He was crushed, nevertheless, on the stroke of halftime when Zappacosta’s shot was deflected into the online off Bensebaini to make it 2-0.
Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi made the save of the match when he tipped Serhou Guirassy’s low drive vast within the forty ninth minute, to guard their two-goal benefit. Dortmund went even nearer within the 53rd with Maximilian Beier’s shot bouncing off the publish.
As a substitute it was the hosts who scored once more because of Mario Pasalic’s header on the far publish to go 3-0 up and take management of the tie.
Dortmund, nevertheless, bounced again with substitute Karim Adeyemi including on the spot tempo to their recreation and curling his Seventy fifth-minute shot into the highest nook because the guests hoped to take the competition into additional time.
But Bensebaini then tried to clear a cross within the field with a backheel however caught the top of Krstovic, who went down bleeding. The hosts have been awarded a penalty following a prolonged VAR overview and Samardzic smashed his spot kick into the highest nook to ship his group by with the final kick of the sport.
