Athletic Club rebelled against its destiny on its most memorable night in the Champions League. Valverde’s team, which was able to leave with a thrashing at half-time, starred in a comeback in the second half that the 1,500 “athleticzales” who met in Bergamo will one day tell their grandchildren. A victory on the last day against Sporting Lisbon in San Mamés would guarantee the presence of Valverde’s team in the round of 32.
Athletic reached the second half alive by a miracle. A legion of opportunities were added to Scamacca’s goal, in a too-simple header. There was a disallowed goal, a stick, some intervention by Unai Simón and wild shots that did not find the target. Athletic Club, the second worst scorer in the competition, was once again a harmless team. The team showed up in Bergamo with an endless list of casualties – the Williams, Berenguer, Yuri, Laporte, Maroan, Prados, Egiluz and Yeray – and between the result and the team’s play, everyone began to think about fixing the league situation and dreaming of the Cup final, which is three games away, but…
Atalanta threatened to close the match in the first quarter of an hour of the restart. The red and whites were once again shaken by the best Italian team in the competition. Valverde had “reported” before the game that something happened to his team every day: “One day it’s one thing, another day it’s another, sometimes it’s the referee, another time it’s a mistake… Nobody is free from those things, but too many always happen to us. We have to improve something, that’s clear.” And suddenly, without any justification, Athletic unleashed itself. Shortly before the game time, they tied Turn around. And in a radical change of attitude in which the changes helped, Atalanta found themselves with a nightmare. Nico Serrano did the second and Navarro scored the third. In just fifteen minutes, the doors of Europe had reopened. Palladino moved the bench. Krstovic cut back, but there was no time for more. Athletic is still alive.
