Atalanta comes out ahead with a brace from Djimsiti against Olympiakos

The Atalantaone of the teams with the highest scoring capacity in Europe in recent seasons, entrusted their central defender, the Swiss-Albanian Berat Djimsiti, to overcome 2-1 at Olympiacoswho conceded two goals from a defender who rescued his team in time.

The Atalanta, stuck in his fight to reach the Champions League after drawing against Juventus last day, needed to be happy in the Europa League, a competition to which he fell after finishing third in the group stage of the continental competition. He couldn’t with Manchester United and Villarreal and had to settle for playing in a minor tournament.

His first rival represents the complete opposite of the Atalanta. The Olympiacos, and more at home, is a team that does not attack. Just defend. And, the group led by Gian Piero Gasperini does not tremble when it comes to playing outburst to hit the opposing goals.

The script was obvious and nobody got out of it during the 90 minutes of the duel. Olympiacos threw the bolt back, waited at all times for Atalanta and entrusted himself to some isolated play to hit his rival. And, that was what happened, especially in the opening act, in which Gasperini’s men, without ideas, were shipwrecked before the Greek effectiveness.

Olympiacos only needed a shot between the three posts to go ahead on the scoreboard at half-time. The Brazilian Tiquinho Soares, at 16 minutes, surprised Atalanta, who could have gotten another scare if the Nigerian Henry Unyekuru had taken advantage of a gift from the Colombian Luis Muriel, an unexpected assistant in strange defensive functions for him.

With as much of Tiquinho Soares and just a couple of inconsequential headers from Croatian Mario Pasalic, Atalanta left depressed to the locker room without the intention of lowering their arms. His had been the domain and the result was for his rival. Then, Gasperini shook the bench and everything changed.

The Dutch Teun Koopmeiners and the Franco-Ivorian Jérémie Boga jumped onto the pitch. His presence, along with the inspiration of the Ukrainian Ruslan Malinovskyi and the unexpected appearance of the central defender Djimsiti, were providential for Atalanta, who in just a minute and a half turned the score around.

Between minutes 61 and 63, Djimsiti He hit the net with two corner kicks that struck down the Olympiacos. The most unexpected man to score ended the resistance of the Greek box, which has already collapsed and his timid final reaction was useless. The return, he will decide everything.