Madrid (AFP)
The "grandma" strikes four times: in an empty stadium, Atalanta Bergamo, who discovers the Champions League, obtained a historic qualification for the quarter-finals of the competition Tuesday evening in Valencia (4-3), thanks to a quadruple by Josip Ilicic (3rd, 43rd, 71st, 82nd).
The Slovenian striker (32, 29 games, 21 goals and 9 assists this season), nicknamed "the granny", allowed the Italian team to glean a memorable ticket for the quarter-finals of the highest European competition, with a cumulative score of 8-4 (4-1, 4-3).
The double of Kevin Gameiro (21st, 50th) and the goal of Ferran Torres (67th) were not enough for the Valencians.
Ilicic, figurehead of the attractive Lombard attack, signed his first quadruple in C1, with two penalties (3rd, 43rd), a beautiful cross strike (71st), and another brushed from the left in full skylight (81st). He was bombed 5th best goal scorer in C1, tied with among others Kylian Mbappé or Son Heung-Min with 5 achievements.
"I am like wine. The older I get, the better I am", summed up the Slovenian in January, who waited until his thirties to play the best football of his life.
Named best player in Serie A in January, he had seven goals in five games, including a heel against Spal and a 45-yard free kick against Torino.
- Lunar atmosphere -
In a lunar atmosphere, in the center of a Mestalla stadium (55,000 seats) emptied of its supporters due to the epidemic of the new coronavirus, Ilicic quickly plunged Atalanta back into his dream of the first leg.
The French central defender of Valence Mouctar Diakhaby, on the contrary, lived a nightmare evening: it was he who offered the penalty of the first Italian goal, by hanging the left foot of the same Ilicic in the area after only 1 minute and 24 seconds of play ...
Then he went on with a second penalty, with one hand in the area reviewed on video, transformed by the inevitable Ilicic.
The worst possible start for Valencia, who already had to go back three goals before kick-off.
But the Valencian supporters, massed at the gates of the stadium despite the camera and which could be heard even on the lawn, pushed to allow the French Kevin Gameiro to find twice the way to the goal, first after an error of the Argentine defender José Luis Palomino (41st), then head (50th) ... two achievements, however, quite insufficient, such as the pretty lob of Ferran Torres (67th).
With only one victory in the last 8 matches in all competitions (since February 4), Valencia continues its descent into hell, clinched in La Liga (7th), 16 points behind the leader Barcelona, and now eliminated in the Champions League.
Conversely, the magical journey of the Italian "intruder" continues among the giants ... until when?
© 2020 AFP