Villarreal has qualified for the knockout phase of the Champions League on Thursday evening. Visiting Atalanta was el Submarino Amarillo by 2-3 too strong. A crucial role was played by Horace Danjuma, who was twice accurate. Thanks to the three-pointer, Villarreal finishes in second place in Group F, in which Manchester United finished at the top. Atalanta continues the European adventure after the winter break in the Europa League, while Young Boys were already certain of elimination. The Bergamo game was postponed by a day due to heavy snowfall on Wednesday evening.
Trainer Gian Piero Gasperini had made basic places for Marten de Roon and Hans Hateboer, while Teun Koopmeiners, just like last weekend, had to settle for a place on the bench. Villarreal was helped in the saddle already in the third minute. After mistakes in the midfield by Hateboer and Merih Demiral, Dani Parejo took over. The latter immediately sent Danjuma into the deep. The left striker rushed towards the enemy goal and shot through the legs of goalkeeper Juan Musso: 0-1. The first chance for Atalanta came after fifteen minutes of play.
???????????? ???????????????? ?? Through the legs of the goalkeeper he quickly gives Villarreal a 1-0 lead ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #ATAVIL pic.twitter.com/5Tj4uKY6ib
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 9, 2021
Remo Freuler made room for the shot from the corner of the box. He had a real shot in the house, but goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli tapped the ball from the right corner. Then it was Danjuma’s turn again. The Dutchman took a deep ball with his heel, after which he suddenly fired on the enemy goal, but this time encountered Musso. Three minutes before half time, Villarreal doubled the lead. Moi Gómez had a nice pass on Étienne Capoue, who hit the target with a devastating shot: 0-2.
another one ?? The final blow for Atalanta and it is again Arnaut Danjuma ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #ATAVIL pic.twitter.com/hLH6oOYssX
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 9, 2021
Five minutes after the break, Danjuma scored his second of the evening. After an excellent individual action Gerard Moreno put the ball wide on Danjuma. Although the left striker was covered, he turned away technically and put the ball into the bottom right corner from close range: 0-3. However, Atalanta did not give up and did everything in its power to pull out another victory. Ruslan Malinovsky took care of the 1-3 twenty minutes before the end of regular time after a custom pass from Joakim Maehle. In the eightieth minute, the tension was completely returned to the game. Duván Zapata made the connecting goal after a personal error by Juan Foyth. However, the equalizer was not found.