Result: Valencia 3-4 Atalanta (4-8 agg.)
Date: 10 March 2020
Venue: Mestalla
UEFA Champions League debutants Atalanta progressed to the quarter-finals with a 8-4 aggregate over Valencia, with Josip Ilicic bagging four goals in the second leg.
Valencia made three changes, with Francis Coquelin, Ferran Torres and and Rodrigo Morena brought to the fore as they looked to overturn a 4-1 first-leg loss.
The hosts got off to a bad start as they conceded a penalty after just two minutes after Mouctar Diakhaby brought down Ilicic inside the box on the byline. The Slovenia international stepped up and made noe mistake from 12-yards out.
The Spanish side levelled matters in the 21st minute after Kevin Gameiro pounced on a mistake by Jose Luis Palomino at the back and fired home from close range.
Valencia were pushing to get ahead after the half-hour mark but they conceded another penalty with three minutes left of the first stanza after a handball by Diakhaby, which allowed Ilicic to complete his brace.
Atalanta nearly bagged five minutes after the break, with Remo Freuler denied by the woodwork but the hosts levelled matters a minute later through Gameiro' close-range header for his brace from Torres' cross.
The Spanish outfit took the lead in a sensational fashion in the 67th minute after Torres spotted Sportiello off his line from the edge of the box and lobbed a great strike over the Italian shot-stopper to make 6-4 on aggregate.
Valencia's celebrations were halted just four minutes later after Ilicic broke away on a counter-attack and drilled home a strike into the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick.
Ilicic went on to seal the win for Atalanta in the last eight minutes after firing a strike to the left side of te post from Freuler's through ball to make it four goals on the night as the Serie A outfit advanced to the last eight.
