Result: Atalanta 4-1 Valencia
Date: 19 February 2020
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
Atalanta showed no signs of nerves in their first-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage after thrashing Valencia 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Star striker Duvan Zapata surprisingly dropped to the bench with Josip Ilicic and Mario Pasalic preferred, while Mouctar Diakhaby replaced the injured Gabriel Paulista on the visitors end.
The home side were off to a positive a start as Ilicic sent a through ball for Pasalic, who went one-on-one with Jaume Domenech before having his effort tipped for a corner in the ninth minute.
Hans Hateboer gave the opening goal in their first ever knockout stage encounter on 16 minutes when he turned Alejandro Gomez's square ball into an empty net.
Valencia threatened to go level right on the half-hour mark after Maximiliano Gomez ran into the area to fire against the near post from a tight angle with the hosts clearing the rebound.
After failing to make their momentum count, Los Che fell further behind four minutes to halftime when Ilicic got past a challenge to smash into the top corner from 20 yards out.
Atalanta could've grabbed a third five minutes in the second half after Daniel Wass overturned possession which found Gomez, who went inches wide of the far post.
The third goal duly arrived after Remo Freuler capitalised on sustained pressing from his side to send a curling strike from 25 yards out past Domenech on 57 minutes.
The Nerazzurri were on a rampage as within five minutes Hateboer secured his second after holding off Diakhaby to venture into the area before slipping a low shot past Domenech.
Los Che looked to keep the tie alive and introduced Denis Cheryshev who replaced Goncalo Guedes following the 64th minute.
The Russian's arrival proved telling as he reduced the deficit two minutes later after capitalising on a defensive error for a neat finish into bottom corner.
Los Che looked for more, but the home side comfortably managed to see out the remaining minutes for an impressive first-leg victory.
