Serie A side Atalanta mounted an improbable comeback today, beating Borussia Dortmund 4-1 to progress to the Round of 16 of the Champions League.
Gianluca Scamaccaโs early goal had handed La Dea a lead. They made 2-0 through Davide Zappacosta. Mario Pasalic made it 3-0 in the second-half before Karim Adeyemi levelled it up on aggregate. In stoppage time, Atalanta got a penalty and it was converted beautifully by Lazar Samardzic.
Scamacca spoke about the game after the win. In an interview with Sky, he described it as one of the greatest nights in Atalanta history.
He said โ relayed by TMWโWe started strongly, but we felt that we could turn it around. We believed until the very end, and those who came on were brilliant as well, because they made the difference. This is a historic achievement, one of the greatest in Atalantaโs history.โ
Speaking further on whether he realises the achievement, the striker said: โWe had to make up for the poor performance in the first leg. Now the best part comes: tomorrow thereโs a day off, and then weโll think about things, as always, one match at a time.โ
The striker also praised manager Raffaele Palladino, praising him for changing the teamโs fortunes.
โThe coach has given us so much. Heโs passed on energy and an important push, we found ourselves again and understood that this was the right path.โ
Atalanta are going to face one of Bayern Munich or Arsenal in the next round and it will be due credit to their sensational exploits today.
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Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN
