Read Jacob Steinberg's report on Tottenham's Champions League exit
Read Sid Lowe's match report
Right, that’s all from me. Josip Ilicic hadn’t scored a Champions League goal in his entire career until he came up against Valencia, and then he got five in two games. His left foot was the star of a game in which seven goals were scored and which ended with Atalanta storming into the last eight.
Atalanta’s players had a message for their club’s Coronavirus-hit hometown after tonight’s game:
“Bergamo this is for you! Never give up”.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 10, 2020
Atalanta players dedicated their historical win in Champions League to the city of Bergamo - difficult situation there because of Coronavirus. 🇮🇹👏🏻 @ChampionsLeague #Atalanta pic.twitter.com/7FsnwJ08Og
This is Reuters’ on-the-whistle summary:
Atalanta’s Josip Ilicic scored four goals in a stunning individual display to lead them to a 4-3 Champions League last-16, second-leg win over Valencia, that completed an 8-4 aggregate victory, at an empty Mestalla on Tuesday.
The Spanish side’s stadium was shut to supporters as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, with the visitors coming from a high-risk zone in the north of Italy.
Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby conceded two penalties in the first half, both converted by Ilicic, either side of Kevin Gameiro’s equaliser.
Gameiro headed home a second and Ferran Torres put Valencia ahead on the night but Slovenian playmaker Ilicic completed his hat-trick and then curled in a sumptuous fourth as his team reached the quarter-finals.
Here’s a report on tonight’s other Champions League game, in which last season’s beaten finalists were knocked out of the competition by RB Leipzig:
Final score: Valencia 3-4 Atalanta (4-8 on aggregate)
90+3 mins: It’s all over! Atalanta march into the quarter-finals!
90+2 mins: A last-minute chance fro Gameiro to complete his hat-trick, but Sportiello denies him! Torres pokes the ball through, but the keeper is out quickly and Gameiro blasts his shot straight into him!
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time we roll. There’ll be two minutes of it. Zapata gets it started by thumping a volley over from 15 yards. Wrong body shape/approach angle combo there.
88 mins: Atalanta spend a couple of minutes attacking gamely but inaccurately, having crosses cleared and passes intercepted, before they eventually kick the ball out of play. “Surely the answer to empty stadiums is to have holograms of the fans chanting all around the stadium,” suggests Justin Kavanagh. “The opposite of Vegas, where crowds pay good money to see performers like Elvis and Roy Orbison. It would certainly make the Emirates a livelier place.”
87 mins: No players has ever scored four goals in an away match in the Champions League knockout rounds, until Josip Ilicic tonight.
86 mins: Remo Freuler blocks Soler’s infield run from the left and gets a booking.
84 mins: Cheryshev just about gets back in time to get a toe on the ball and stop Zapata scoring the night’s eighth, and the tie’s 13th, goal.
83 mins: Atalanta make their final change, and it’s Pasalic making way for Adrien Tameze.
GOAL! Valencia 3-4 Atalanta (Ilicic, 82 mins)
Another! Fine work from Freuler and Zapata in the build-up and the ball eventually rolls to Ilicic on the right of the area, who thumps it into the top left corner!
Updated
81 mins: Both teams are pushing forward now. There are more goals in this yet.
Honestly, the build up to that last goal was just ridiculous given the context of where we are in this tie. A counter attack to a Valencia counter-attack made possible because Atalanta overcommitted at a corner *when 6-4 up with an away goals advantage*.
— Nicky Bandini (@NickyBandini) March 10, 2020
80 mins: Gameiro passes infield to Gaya, who had an excellent chance to shoot first-time from the edge of the area but instead tries to dribble past a couple of defenders, fails, and then has a shot while falling over that bobbles wide.
79 mins: Then Valencia bring on Alessandro Florenzi in place of Rodrigo.
78 mins: Atalanta take off Papu Gomes and bring on Ruslan Malinovskyi.
75 mins: It sounds like the fans outside the stadium have all gone home now.
74 mins: A bit of a delay, while Gosens gets a bit of treatment from the physios and Denis Cheryshev replaces Coquelin in the Valencia team.
73 mins: It’s now 7-4 on aggregate. With no fans to celebrate with, Ilicic turns after scoring and makes a substitution-request signal at the bench.
GOAL! Valencia 3-3 Atalanta (Ilicic, 72 mins)
Atalanta break, and it’s four against four as they move it to Zapata on the right. He passes infield to Ilicic, who cuts into the area and lashes a low shot into the bottom right corner!
Updated
71 mins: Atalanta aren’t quite fully committed either in attack or defence at present, and are a bit too open at the back. Still, they’ve got a decent cushion to protect them.
70 mins: Save! Hateboer picks out Zapata on the right of the area. There’s nobody for him to square to, so he lashes a low shot from an unpromising angle with such accuracy and ferocity that it takes an excellent save with his legs for Cillessen to keep it out.
Updated
GOAL! Valencia 3-2 Atalanta (Ferrán Torres, 68 mins)
A simple ball down the middle found Ferrán Torres bursting forward, and Sportiello’s rush to the edge of his area left him with the simple task of lifting a bouncing ball over the exposed goalkeeper and into the empty net!
67 mins: Ilicic prods through to Hateboer, who cuts in from the right, turns down an invitation to go down as Guedes lays a hand on his shoulder, and then runs out of room.
64 mins: Gomez is taken out on the left wing but the ball rolls on to Ilicic, but his cross finds Kondogbia rather than Zapata. When the ball goes out of play, Wass is booked for the foul on Gomez. He would miss the quarter-final if Valencia somehow have to play one.
60 mins: Zapata tees up Ilicic, whose thunderous left-footed drive hits Pasalic, his own teammate, when apparently top-corner-bound.
59 mins: At the other end Kondogbia, now playing at centre-back since Diakhaby’s substitution, brings down Ilicic and is booked, a bit harshly.
57 mins: Now Guedes volleys over the bar from 20 yards. If Valencia could score one more goal then they would only need another goal to be in with a shout of scoring the goal that would leave them needing just one more goal.
55 mins: Half a chance! Soler passes to Gameiro, inside the area but to the left of goal, and he spins and spears a shot wide! There were a lot of white shirts in the penalty area, and probably better options available. That is his first attempt of the evening that hasn’t gone in.
53 mins: Valencia are straight back on the front foot. They win a corner, and then another corner, which Sportiello makes an ill-advised attempt to claim. He just about gets his fingers to it and pokes it limply away, but gets away with it.
GOAL! Valencia 2-2 Atalanta (Gameiro, 51 mins)
Parejo’s shot deflects to Ferrán Torres on the right, and Gameiro meets his cross with a powerful header past Sportiello!
Updated
50 mins: Freuler hits the bar! It’s a lovely shot from the right-hand corner of the area that zings over Cillessen, but doesn’t quite dip enough to go in!
49 mins: Rodrigo crosses from the left, and Ferrán Torres rises highest in the middle, but Sportiello makes the save.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! They’re back under way, and Diakhaby has made way for Guedes. Not the finest night of his career, I’d wager.
The players are back out. Goncalo Guedes is going to come on for Valencia.
More footage from outside the ground. It’s bizarre to think that this is happening because of a bat/pangolin/whatever in a market thousands of miles away a few months ago. If this kind of display is mirrored at other games and grounds, I can’t see the season concluding at all.
Half time: Valencia 1-2 Atalanta (1-6 on aggregate)
45+4 mins: The free-kick hits the raised arms of Valencia’s one-man wall, and the second free-kick is pushed to safety by Cillessen. As the ball rolls out of play, the referee blows his whistle.
45+3 mins: Coquelin concedes a free-kick on the left, and Atalanta might be able to squeeze another chance into the half.
45+2 mins: This is the best video I can find from outside the stadium, where Valencia’s fans continue to make a racket. You’ll have to tilt your head a bit to watch it, but it gives you an idea of what they’re up to.
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time. There’ll be three minutes of it, or similar.
45 mins: De Roon has gone off, and Duvan Zapata has come on. Atalanta don’t seem minded to defend this lead.
GOAL! Valencia 1-2 Atalanta (Ilicic, 44 mins)
This time Ilicic smacks it low to his right, and the keeper goes the wrong way! Atalanta lead 6-2 on aggregate!
Updated
43 mins: The ball was bouncing into the area, and Ilicic trying to run onto it, when Diakhaby appeared to lean his arm into the ball. It looked to me like he expected Ilicic to touch it and was caught out when it ran straight on, but that was a clear handball.
Atalanta have another penalty!
42 mins: The referee goes to look at the replay screens, and swiftly concludes that it was indeed a handball. As he runs back towards the penalty area he brandishes a yellow card at Diakhaby.
Updated
41 mins: VAR are checking for a potential handball in Valencia’s penalty area. It looks to me like Diakhaby might have conceded a second penalty here.
40 mins: Now De Roon is leaving the field, though he appears only in mild discomfort.
37 mins: De Roon gets a bit of Rodrigo’s hand in his face, goes down, and the physios come on to kiss it better.
35 mins: This is a reasonable game, despite the lack of fans and Atalanta’s dominant position. A second Valencia goal might really turbocharge it. Rodrigo tries to supply one, but his shot deflects wide.
32 mins: Coquelin is booked for clearing the ball when it was next to Pasalic’s head and then somehow ending up with his foot resting on his opponent’s shoulder.
27 mins: Pasalic passes to Gomez, just outside the penalty area towards the left corner, who tries to chip Cillessen. It was an outlandish effort, but Cillessen was too close to his line, and it anyway went well over the bar.
25 mins: And another chance from the corner, as Pasalic wins the header but sends the ball bouncing across goal and out of play.
24 mins: Nearly a chance for Atalanta! Gosens bursts down the left and sends in an excellent cross, but Hateboer can’t quite reach it in the middle!
GOAL! Valencia 1-1 Atalanta (Gameiro, 21 mins)
The ball is played into the area towards Gameiro. His marker, Palomino, slides to intercept and pushes it away a bit but Gameiro reacts fastest, reaches the loose ball and turns it past Sportiello, who had neither committed to claiming it nor decided to stay on his line.
20 mins: The home side win a corner, but Hateboer heads it clear and when the ball is sent back into the box not only does Sportiello win it and punch it away, but Kondogbia is offside.
17 mins: Here are some Valencia fans, from a little earlier. They have only increased in number since then. This seems totally self-defeating, in that it’s stuff like this that will convince the authorities not just to play games in empty stadiums, but not to play them at all:
A Valencia tutti belli ammassati ad aspettare il pullman della squadra...🤦♂️ #ValenciaAtalanta #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/irOM9G2wBJ
— Alessandro (@90ordnasselA) March 10, 2020
12 mins: There’s some crowd noise in the stadium, which is presumably being played through loudspeakers. There are lots of fans outside the ground, but they would have to be very noisy for it to be this clear on the inside.
9 mins: Shot! Soler hits a pretty good effort from 40 yards or so, which Sportiello pushes away.
6 mins: Valencia would presumably have discussed the importance of scoring the first goal and keeping a clean sheet. Two minutes, that lasted. They mount an attack and win a corner, but nothing comes of it.
GOAL! Valencia 0-1 Atalanta (Ilicic, 3 mins)
The VAR check complete, Ilicic thumps his penalty low and hard, straight down the middle, and it’s 1-5 on aggregate!
Updated
3 mins: VAR is checking a possible offside in the build-up to the penalty.
Penalty to Atalanta!
2 mins: Less than 100 seconds on the clock and Ilicic runs from the right into the area, gets to the byline, cuts back, is clipped by Mouctar Diakhaby, and Atalanta can kill the game here (surely).
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Atalanta get the game started, and immediately hoist the ball into touch on the right wing.
No handshakes, mind. So there’s nothing now standing between us and football, except a referee’s whistle.
And out they come! Anthems, kids waving a giant Champions League football logo thing in the centre circle, and not a fan to be seen. Looks like they have turned on the big screens, though. For the ball boys, presumably.
Updated
The players are in the tunnel, and a very handsome tunnel it is too at the Mestalla.
There might not be any fans inside the ground, but it looks like there are a few outside it:
It may help you to know that Uefa reckon Valencia will line up like this:
While they think Atalanta will play something like this:
The teams!
Tonight’s teams have been announced, and here they are:
Valencia: Cillessen, Wass, Coquelin, Diakhaby, Gaya, Torres, Parejo, Kondogbia, Carlos Soler, Gameiro, Rodrigo. Subs: Domenech Jaume, Goncalo Guedes, Cheryshev, Lee, Sobrino, Florenzi, Guillamon.
Atalanta: Sportiello, Djimsiti, Caldara, Palomino, Hateboer, de Roon, Freuler, Gosens, Pasalic, Ilicic, Gomez. Subs: Tameze, Czyborra, Muriel, Malinovsky, Castagne, Rossi, Zapata.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania).
🦇 XI INICIAL @valenciacf @ChampionsLeague #VCFAtalanta 🖤 #LÀnimaDeMestalla pic.twitter.com/8oIvYuU2tH
— Valencia CF 🦇💯 (@valenciacf) March 10, 2020
Hello world!
I had the great pleasure of watching the first leg of this game, played in front of a baying, wildly entertained audience at the San Siro in Milan. Those were different times, more innocent times. There will be no fans tonight, but there will probably be goals: it’s more than a month since either side last kept a clean sheet, and in their most recent league game Atalanta thrashed Lecce 7-2. That was 10 days ago, the only match they have played since winning the first leg of this one 4-1 on 19 February. There may be a little ring-rustiness, but there should at least be no sign of fatigue. “We need to score, as well as stay focused and defend well,” said Gian Piero Gasperini. “A psychological aspect of our game that we are working on is ... we seem to get comfortable and assume the job is done when it really is not. The team were great in the first leg, but I will not celebrate until the second leg is over.”
The Valencia coach, Albert Celades, insisted that “the result from the first leg isn’t a fair reflection of what happened in the game”, which is true: Maxi Gómez displayed the finishing skills of a kitten as he spurned a number of fine chances in that one. He won’t be spurning any chances tonight, though, as he’s kept out by a broken foot. Still, where there’s life there’s hope: “I don’t think we need a miracle to progress, not at all,” surmised Albert Celades. I think I speak for all who saw the first game when I say: more of the same, please.
Updated
