3️⃣ points as Atalanta thrash Valencia on magical night in Milan | OneFootball

Atalanta marked their first ever Champions League knockout stage game by all but booking their passage to the quarter-final by blitzing Valencia in Milan.

It was a display to do San Siro proud as Hans Hateboer scored twice, Josip Iličić added another and Remo Freuler scored a screamer in their 4-1 success.

This is what we made of it.

This tie is over

Sorry to write you off Valencia fans. Sorry to perhaps jinx you Atalanta fans.

But this one is done and that was the case as soon as Josip Ilicić scored his side’s second, helped by charitable Valencia defending and goalkeeping.

The visitors had to find more than one away goal (they came close several times and we’ll get to that) after shipping four and failed to do so – which will prove costly at the Mestalla.

This Atalanta side are too good to go to Spain and not create some big chances against a defence who had no idea how to deal with an attack that didn’t have Duvan Zapata as a focal point.

The movement of the Alejandro Gómez, Iličić and Mario Pašalić trio gave them fits and we don’t see how they turn this around.

Only twice this season in all competitions have the Orobici lost by the three clear goals it would take to put them out and one of those was in Manchester.

Valencia are good but they are no Manchester City in the final third and only once this season have they produced a scoreline which would be enough in Spain. And even then, it would only be enough for extra-time.

Under Gian Piero Gasperini, this Atalanta team are too good to succumb to the kind of showing it would take to send them packing.

Papu excels on the big occasion

This Atalanta side are like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

They have a genius directing everything from the side and a star-studded cast doing his bidding.

But just like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction or Brad Pitt in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, there’s always one talent who rises above the rest of his quality colleagues.

That is the role La Dea captain Papu Gómez plays in this side. The rest may be good but he is the best and showed it yet again.

He ran the show in this one, confidently stroking the ball around and popping up all over the field to infuriate the Spaniards with his movement and magic.

His assist for Hans Hateboer’s opening goal was perfect and he pulled the strings perfectly all night until making way for the final 10 minutes.

There was no goal for him and Remo Freuler showed again why he is so underrated but there was one man who knitted it altogether.

The outstanding Argentine was made for this grand stage.

Los Che’s killer touch deserts them

San Siro has not been kind to Valencia.

This is, of course, the venue where they lost the 2001 Champions League final on penalties to Bayern Munich.

But they must have been hopeful of a better result given it was hardly the pedigree or continental might of Milan or Inter who awaited them in the iconic venue.

And the ghosts of that 2001 odyssey came back to haunt them again as they completely froze on the big stage, failing to come close to the kind of performance they produced at Ajax to reach this phase.

Their defending was awful but you would have given the visitors some hope heading home if they had taken some of the big chances they created, which were more than Atalanta actually.

Ferran Torres was unlucky when hitting the post in the first half but there was no such excuse for Carlos Soler after the break when drilling wide when under no pressure, while Denis Cheryshev could have had a brace.

As for Maxi Gómez somehow failing to hit the net when unmarked in front of goal and allowing Pierluigi Gollini to make the save, that was unforgivable.

There were also plenty of times a forward was just a tick behind or ahead of a dangerous delivery across the area.

They had the openings to hurt the Italians but simply couldn’t take advantage.