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Atalanta’s Champions League playoff qualification hopes suffered a major blow after a contentious stoppage-time penalty decision handed Club Brugge a 2-1 first leg win.
La Dea, missing several key players, including Matteo Ruggeri, Ademola Lookman, Daniel Maldini, Sead Kolasinac, Odilon Kossounou, Giorgio Scalvini, and Gianluca Scamacca, were left to face an uphill battle in Belgium. Marco Carnesecchi was also struggling with flu symptoms. Despite all of these, they pushed hard but ultimately fell short by a goal.
Club Brugge had shown their mettle in the league phase, beating Aston Villa and Sporting, holding Juventus to a 0-0 draw, and narrowly losing to Milan while down to 10 men.
The hosts started aggressively, with Christos Tzolis threatening on the counter, particularly when he sent Berat Djimsiti to the ground and had his shot charged down by Raoul Bellanova.
Club Brugge took a deserved lead when Stefan Posch was caught napping on an Isak Hien pass, intercepted by Chemsdine Talbi, who rolled the ball across for Ferran Jutglà to score with his right foot.
Atalanta however struggled to gain traction, but as time wore on, the intensity of Club Brugge’s pressing faded, and the visitors began to take control. After Mateo Retegui drilled wide, Davide Zappacosta floated in a cross for Mario Pasalic to score with a looping header into the far top corner from 12 yards.
Club Brugge came back fighting after the restart and had a huge double opportunity. First, two players collided on the penalty spot while going for a Chemsdine Talbi pull-back. Then, the move continued for Maxim De Cuyper to drill inches wide.
Gian Piero Gasperini made a double Atalanta substitution that almost paid off immediately. Juan Cuadrado’s cross found Zappacosta at the back post, forcing a desperate save from Simon Mignolet. Moments later, Lazar Samardzic was sent clear but drilled wide one-on-one with Mignolet.
Atalanta’s Charles De Ketelaere, a Club Brugge academy product, even drew applause from the home fans with a scorcher that stung Mignolet’s gloves after a give-and-go with Samardzic. Cuadrado also fired straight at Mignolet after a short corner.
However, the game and tie turned with a frankly ridiculous refereeing decision in stoppages. Umut Teler thought that Isak Hien grazing Gustaf Nilsson’s nose with an arm as he cut him off to intercept the through ball was sufficient for a penalty. VAR could not change the decision made on the pitch as there was contact, even if it was absolutely minimal. Nilsson converted to give Club Brugge the victory, leaving Atalanta understandably furious on the night and departs Belgium with a slim disadvantage ahead of next week’s return leg.
