Europa League: Atalanta-Leipzig 0-2: Nkunku double

From our correspondent Andrea Elefante

April 14
– bergamo

There is no room for dreams: Atalanta also out of the Europa League, like the Italian Cup, like the race for one of the first four places in the league. After having played it for three years in a row, next year he will not play in the Champions League, which he could still hope to catch only by winning this trophy. But Leipzig goes to the semifinals with two goals from Nkunku and an absolutely legitimate victory. Under the eyes of the American partner of the Percassi, Steve Pagliuca, and with the final applause of a stadium that is nevertheless wonderful, another fall at Gewiss, yet another, here where the Goddess has compromised a good part of the season. Which now risks becoming bankruptcy if one of the places that entitles you to at least play one of the “minor” European cups is not reached. But it will not be easy, if Gasperini’s team does not change pace: even today too little in the match that was supposed to save the season. Little better in the second half, never like a week ago in Germany, not enough to make up for the goal scored after 18 ‘, which put Leipzig, however the protagonist of an excellent game, to give their best. In the end, the balance is clear: not even a real scoring ball for Atalanta, only the doubt-torment for a penalty not granted at the beginning of the second half. Not enough to feel acquitted.

THE CHOICES

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Gasperini is aiming for a different aggression than a week ago, with offensive men rather than “substance” to activate the same 4-3-2-1: there is Zapata holder, with Malinovskyi and Boga attacking midfielders and Koopmeiners who closes the triangle with De Roon (this time destined for the collision of Nkunku and not of Olmo, taken by Palomino) and Freuler, which Gasperini risks just a week after the elongation of the flexor of the first leg. The defense is the same as in Leipzig, with Demiral-Palomino central couple, Hateboer and Zappacosta on the flanks. German is not surprising: Simakan preferred to Klostermann in the three-way line with Orbàn and Gvardiol, on the right there is Heinrichs and not Mukiele, untouchable Kampl, Laimer and Angelino, Olmo is the top of the 3-4-1-2, behind him by Nkunku and André Silva, who wins the ballot with Poulsen.

FIRST HALF

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It will be precisely the tourbillon of the three offensive men of Leipzig, good at not unbalancing the team by always giving it a dangerous outlet, to direct the outcome of the first half, especially after the 1-0 goal. Which arrives at 18 ‘, after a government of the Atalanta match that immediately finds no danger. An unassuming shot on goal by Zappacosta and stop. Leipzig is just waiting for the right opportunity to strike with its deadly restarts and arrives when Laimer can go on the run on the right, chased uselessly by Freuler, who evidently appears in difficulty in the run-up, probably for fear of getting injured again: the Austrian makes forty meters of field almost undisturbed and with all the Atalanta unbalanced he sees well the trailer of Nkunku on which De Roon is late and Hateboer tries in vain for a desperate recovery. At that point Leipzig can play their ideal match and they do it with great intelligence: not great chances to double – only two shots by Angelino and Laimer – but constant lightening that reward the concentration of the defenders, the compactness of the midfield and the skill of the three forwards in reading the moments in which Atalanta is crushed and those instead in which, especially with Palomino and Zappacosta, they are too high. But what really disappoints is how Atalanta struggles to find the area, and therefore the goal, the opponent. Zapata, also because he is too isolated, is still not himself and is struggling to keep up the balls, but it is above all Malinovskyi and Boga, the two cards on which Gasperini had bet, who appear opaque, imprecise, never able – not even looking for the shot – to break the coverages always punctual of the Germans. The Goddess closes the first half with two shots on goal, the initial one by Zappacosta and then one by Malinovskyi, both harmless: and Gulàcsi thanks them.

SECOND HALF

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The episode that could change the game in the 5 ‘of the second half: a free kick by Koopmeiners is touched with the arm by Henrichs, the second attempt at transformation is for Malinovskyi, whose shot is rejected by Laimer, who hits both with his right arm and with the palm of the left hand, which therefore seems to increase the volume of the body. Referee Lahoz does not grant the penalty, is recalled to the rewiev by the Var, but confirms his decision not to award the penalty. At least in the second half, Atalanta did not leave the field to Leipzig, they crushed him in his half of the field, but collected only a blocked shot from Koopmeiners, a high shot from Boga, two header shots from Zapata. Muriel does not change the meaning of the game, also because in the meantime, Tedesco corrects Leipzig by solidifying it even more, further breaking the pace for Atalanta who are struggling to raise it, never being able to anticipate the Germans’ coverage. And against that wall the Nerazzurri’s hopes are shattered, definitively broken by the 2-0: restart of Leipzig, Goddess discovered, Poulsen sends Nkunku into the goal, knocked down in the area by an imperfect exit from Musso and icy in doubling. And to launch Leipzig in the semifinals.