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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tom Doyle

Atalanta reach Champions League last-16 despite losing first three group games

Atalanta pulled off the biggest shock of the Champions League so far this season by qualifying for the last-16 despite losing their opening three group games.

The Serie A side qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever this season, and have played their European home games at San Siro because their own stadium has been undergoing renovation work.

Having been drawn against Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb in Group C, progress to the knockout stages looked slim as they lost their first three group games - 4-0 in Zagreb, 2-1 at home to Shakhtar, and 5-1 in Manchester.

A home draw on matchday 4 against City got them off the mark, and a 2-0 home win over Dinamo left them needing to beat Shakhtar away on matchday 6 while also hoping that Dinamo did not beat City.

Dinamo went ahead against Man City, but a Gabriel Jesus hat-trick left the Premier League champions 3-1 up and cruising to victory.

That meant the winners of the game between Shakhtar and Atalanta would take second place in the group - and second-half goals from Timothy Castagne, Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens earned a stunning 3-0 victory.

Man City added another to win 4-1 in Zagreb, meaning Atalanta will now be playing in the last-16 in their first season in the Champions League.

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