Gasperini Regrets Luis Muriel's Missed Chance As Atalanta Miss Out On UCL Round Of 16

Written by Dare Solomon

Arnaut Danjuma struck twice as Villarreal won 3-2 away in Italy to knock Atalanta out and proceed to the Round 16 of the Champions League.

More Details

Danjuma in the third minute wasted no time to put Villarreal in front in the game scheduled for Wednesday but postponed to the following day after due to snow.

Although the Bergamo side dominated proceedings and had plenty of the ball, they were wasteful and paid dearly with three minutes to the end of first half as Villarreal through Étienne Capoue made it 2-0.

LATEST POSTS

Six minutes into the second half, Danjuma got his second goal after cleverly turning away from his opponent before finding the bottom corner.

With 19 minutes to the end of the game, Malinovskyi got one back with a trademark left-foot scorcher from the edge of the box after a Joakim Maehle’s lay-off.

Eight minutes later, Duvan Zapata made it 3-2 from a knitted pass from Ilicic. A comeback looked possible with Duvan Zapata’s header and then a Luis Muriel curler smacking against the upright on 86 minutes.

The resurgence came too late as Villareal finished second in Group F behind Manchester United and Atalanta dropping to the Europa league.

Meanwhile…

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini after the game regretted some moments in the game where his players switched off and the crossbar denying an equalizer.

“We got the sensation as time wore on that we could get back into it, but it was too late. When Muriel hit the post, if that had gone in for 3-3, it would’ve given us a chance to throw everything at them. It is also true that in the 90 minutes we were unable to play the way we can.

“There are even more regrets because we went out in a game that we were more than capable of winning. The players have put in so many good performances this season, an off day can happen. When we managed to improve the quality of the football, that’s when we created lots of scoring opportunities.” Gasperini told Amazon Prime Italia as relayed by Footballitalia.

“With Villarreal taking such an early lead, they could sit back even deeper and we struggled to break them down. The whole first half was not good, we misplaced passes and lacked our usual quality.

“We leave the Champions League with a lot of regrets.”

Do you have a story tip?
Kindly Email: keepup@bettitude.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

Bookmark (0)

Please login to bookmark