Lazar Samardzic slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to complete a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the Champions League’s last 16 with a comeback 4-3 aggregate triumph.
Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick in the 98th minute to send the Italians through. Atalanta will now face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16, with the draw on Friday.
The hosts had to fight back following last week’s 2-0 loss in Germany, and Gianluca Scamacca tapped in at the far post to give them a fifth-minute lead as they got off to a dream start. Dortmund had their share of chances but it was their keeper, Gregor Kobel, who was busiest in the first half, twice denying Nicola Zalewski. He was beaten, however, on the stroke of half-time when Davide Zappacosta’s shot was deflected into the net off Bensebaini to make it 2-0.
The Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi made the save of the match when he tipped Serhou Guirassy’s low drive wide in the 49th minute, to protect their two-goal advantage. Dortmund went even closer in the 53rd with Maximilian Beier’s shot bouncing off the post. Instead it was the hosts who scored again thanks to Mario Pasalic’s header at the far post to go 3-0 up and take control of the tie.
Dortmund, however, hit back with the substitute Karim Adeyemi adding instant pace to their game and curling his 75th-minute shot into the top corner as the visitors pushed to take the contest into extra time.
But Bensebaini then tried to clear a cross in the box with a backheel, catching the head of Krstovic who went down bleeding. The hosts were awarded a penalty following a lengthy VAR review and Samardzic beat Kobel to send his team through with the last kick of the game.
The Atalanta defender Sead Kolasinac said he went through “a whirlwind of emotions” in the final seconds. “When the referee decided for a penalty, I didn’t know who would take it. All our penalty takers had been substituted, but luckily Lazar converted brilliantly,” Kolasinac told DAZN.
Emre Can, the Dortmund captain, said his error-prone side deserved their elimination. “If you make so many individual errors, it’s going to be difficult to progress… we were very unlucky, but to be honest we didn’t deserve to advance.”
Elsewhere Paris Saint-Germain, the holders, edged out 10-man Monaco to reach the last 16, a 2-2 draw giving Luis Enrique’s side a 5-4 aggregate victory.
PSG won 3-2 away in the first leg last week, but Maghnes Akliouche scored to give Monaco the lead on the night and level the tie on aggregate.
Mamadou Coulibaly’s second-half sending-off for the visitors then proved the catalyst for Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to score for PSG and seemingly finish off the tie, although Jordan Teze made it 2-2 late on.
“At the end, when they scored, we felt stressed and it was scary,” said Désiré Doué, who scored twice for PSG in the first leg. “The objective is to dominate the whole match, but you also have to know how to come back from behind. Next time, we’ll try not to concede a goal, that’s important.”
Galatasaray, meanwhile, fended off a rousing fightback by 10-man Juventus as Victor Osimhen struck in extra time to help earn the Turkish side a 7-5 aggregate victory.
Trailing 5-2 from the first leg, Juventus were given hope by Manuel Locatelli’s first-half penalty but they appeared doomed when the defender Lloyd Kelly was sent off on 48 minutes. Remarkably, the hosts forced extra time with goals from Federico Gatti and Weston McKennie but eventually ran out of steam, Osimhem and Baris Yilmaz scoring late to send Galatasaray through to a meeting with either Liverpool or Tottenham. (Guardian)
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