Julius Okorie
Atalanta’s desire to progress in this year’s UEFA Champions League hit the rocks on Tuesday night, after they fell to a 3-1 defeat to visiting Club Brugge in the return leg of the two legged play-off.
The Serie A side had earlier suffered a 2-1 defeat in the first leg and were desperate, to reverse the drift in the return leg at home. That was however not to be, as Brugge came prepared not only to consolidate but to indeed do it in style.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe visitors shot into the lead as early as the third minute of the match, thanks to Brugge attacker, Chemsdine Talbi, who made it a brace within 27 minutes.
No one was left in doubt that the Belgian side had come for business, when Ferran Jutglà increased the tally in the added minutes of the first 45 minutes.
A desperate Atalanta, introduced returnee Ademola Lookman in the 46th minute of the encounter with the hope of turning the table.
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Though the Nigeria international, and reigning African footballer of the year, made instant impact, striking from just inside the box to make it 3-1 on the night, it did not stop sinking Atalanta from exiting the contest.
Shortly after, Gasperini’s men were awarded a penalty, but Lookman’s effort was saved by Mignolet.
Atalanta have failed to win in their last 3 games in the UEFA Champions League, their last longest winless streak was from 20th October 2021 to 19th September 2024, a run of 5 games.
The result thus saw Club Brugge earn a place in the last 16 with an emphatic 5-2 aggregate leaving Atalanta to leak their wounds
Atalanta had plenty of chances, but lacked a cutting edge in the final third, scoring just once from 3.57 expected goals.
Brugge will now wait to see who they will face when the draw in the next round takes place on Friday.
In another development, AC Milan equally crashed out of the competition after playing out a 1-1 draw in the second to visiting Feyenoord. The first led had ended 1-1 with Fikayo Tomori and his AC Milan Teammates hoping to grab a reverse at home. The visitors thus progress on a 2-1 aggregate.
But the dream crashed before their eyes. While Ademola Lookman and Tomori sang lamentation songs on the night, it was a different ball game for Eagles ace, Raphael Onyedika, who enjoyed victory with Club Brugge despite bagging a yellow card in the course of the encounter.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
