BERGAMO, ITALY (REUTERS) – Villarreal grew to become the final group to succeed in the Champions League knockout phases as Netherlands worldwide Arnaut Danjuma’s double helped them to a 3-2 win at Atalanta of their rearranged closing Group F match on Thursday (Dec 9).
The sport was scheduled to happen on Wednesday however was postponed attributable to snow, and Villarreal wasted no time in placing themselves within the driving seat, with Danjuma racing clear to interrupt the impasse inside three minutes.
Atalanta had extra of the ball in Bergamo and mustered loads of makes an attempt at objective, however their wastefulness proved pricey as Etienne Capoue made it 2-0 three minutes earlier than their break.
The house facet knew solely victory would do for them to seize the ultimate last-16 qualification spot within the group behind Manchester United, and got here out for the second half in all-out-attack mode.
Down the opposite finish, nonetheless, Danjuma appeared to place the consequence past all doubt within the 51st minute with a superb objective on the flip, earlier than substitute Ruslan Malinovskiy rifled house to offer Atalanta hope 19 minutes from time.
Duvan Zapata scored once more for Atalanta with a well-taken objective, however it was not sufficient as Villarreal secured second spot, 4 factors forward of the Italian facet who go into the Europa League.
“We began very badly and in these video games it turns into troublesome whenever you go behind so early,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini advised Amazon.
“The gamers put in a variety of good performances, however we missed just a little bit tonight. After we managed to enhance the sport was gone.”
Danjuma’s first happened after Atalanta had been caught too excessive up the pitch when conceding possession, with the Villarreal striker slotting by means of the legs of house goalkeeper Juan Musso.
It was the quickest objective Atalanta had ever conceded within the Champions League, however it didn’t disrupt their circulation.
The possibilities got here and went for the hosts whereas Capoue’s emphatic strike and a wise end from Danjuma – his tenth objective of the season in all competitions – seemingly ended the match as a contest.
However this Atalanta facet should not missing in spirit, and shortly battled again. Malinovskiy’s arrowing strike didn’t trigger Villarreal an excessive amount of concern, however Zapata’s lofted end did and Luis Muriel hit the publish moments later.
The guests held on, nonetheless, and their first Champions League marketing campaign in a decade will proceed into the knockout phases.
