Football is a pure state of mind. Athletic confirmed it with an incredible resurrection in Bergamo. Without Nico and Iñaki Williams, Yuri or … Berenguer in the call, fell to Atalanta after an hour of forgettable play. Scamacca’s only goal was practically a blessing given the Italian barrage.
And Athletic put aside the regrets over the losses and had a remarkable start, with a good shot from Guruzeta at the first opportunity. The staging was promising, but Atalanta’s traditional pressure, inherited from the Gasperini era, quickly made life difficult for the lions at the beginning of the play.
La Dea had leveled the battle with a push when Athletic made clear its current marked weakness in the areas. A lateral cross allowed Scamacca to impose his battering ram law, with a too-comfortable header.
Atalanta
Carnesecchi, Zappacosta (Samardzic, min. 76), Kossounou, Djimsiti, Kolasinac (Ahanor, min. 76), Bernasconi (Sulemana, min. 83), De Roon, Éderson, De Ketelaere, Zalewski (Lookman, min. 66) y Scamacca (Krstovic, min. 66).
2
–
3
Athletic
Unai Simón, Gorosabel (Areso, min. 81), Lekue, Vivian, Paredes, Adama (Sancet, min. 46), Jauregizar (Vesga, min. 59), Rego (Galarreta, min. 59), Robert Navarro, Gruzeta and Unai Gómez (Nico Serrano, min. 68).
-
Goals:
1-0: min. 16, Scamacca. 1-1: min. 58, Guruzeta. 1-2: min. 70, Serrano. 1-3: min. 74, Robert Navarro. 2-3: min. 88, Krstovic. -
Arbitrator:
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands). He reprimanded Vivian, Jauregizar and Carnesecchi. -
Incidences:
Matchday 7 in the Champions League played at the Stadio di Bergamo.
From there, the red and white’s initial good intention was completely diluted. Phases of total dominance by the Italian team and arrivals such as Bernasconi’s shot from the edge of the Basque area, which missed the post, and Unai Simón’s double intervention from close range.
The goalkeeper was the only retaining wall against a barrage that did not bear much fruit for Atalanta thanks to a millimeter offside by De Ketelaere and also the post, which denied the Belgian attacker himself the goal after an academic headbutt.
Rudder turn
It seemed impossible for the lions, forced to win in the Lombard town and depressed by their latest results, to come out of the challenge alive when Ernesto Valverde risked his initial approach with a defense of five with a turn of the helm. Sancet came into action, just after the break, and the providential equalizer came from the wise Guruzeta, when no one expected it, and the remodeling of the midfield with Vesga and Galarreta.
Revitalized by an unexpected draw based on the game, the Txingurri team was different from then on. Incredible resurrection after an hour of submission, which was definitively signed by Nico Serrano, wonderful in the shot after a huge cross to the far post by Robert Navarro, author of the third, which culminated a stretch of the match of authentic red-and-white frenzy.
The feat was on track, but it was necessary to defend a victory of incalculable value tooth and nail. Montenegrin Krstovic’s goal, at the end of stoppage time, forced Athletic into an exercise in Numantine resistance that doubled the sweet taste of victory. The lions are not only still alive in the Champions League, but they depend on themselves against Sporting Lisbon, in San Mamés, to reach the round of 16 tie.
