Atalanta come from behind to beat Olympiacos in the first leg of their Round of 32 clash in the Europa League

Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

Greek champions and current league leaders, Olympiacos, were defeated 2-1 by Atalanta in the first leg of their Round of 32 Europa League tie.

It was a chilly night in the Gewiss Stadium but there was a great atmosphere created in this tight football stadium in the heart of Bergamo in Northern Italy.

The Atalanta Ultras were in full voice and were matched by the Greek fans, who were inside the stadium an hour before kick-off and who never stopped singing and chanting throughout the match, despite eventually losing after a promising start.

The football did not disappoint either with Atalanta the more silky of the two sides with Olympiacos always dangerous on the break.

In the 16th minute, it was one of those quick breaks that caught Atalanta out with the impressive Tiquinho Soares finishing off a quicksilver break to make it 1-0 to the visitors after a low long-range shot nestled into the bottom corner of the net.

The Italians reacted straight away and put a lot of pressure on the Greek defence with La Dea finding the back of the net only for the flag to go up for offside.

The Bergamo side went into the break 1-0 down and must have felt low on confidence having not won in any of their last five matches.

The Greeks were looking steady in the second half until Atalanta’s Berat Djimsiti headed home from a corner in the 61st minute.

Before Olympiacos had time to react, they were suddenly behind just two minutes later when the same man again broke the Greeks’ hearts.

A corner from the same side bounced chaotically around the box ricocheting off three Atalanta players before falling nicely to the Albanian who gave the home side the lead and ultimately the 2-1 victory.

Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini admitted after the match that his side were shaken by the loss of an early goal.

“European ties are always difficult, you are up against teams that are leading their own leagues and have players who can get a goal out of anywhere. We took a while to recover from that blow and then controlled the second half.”

Atalanta will take some comfort in the knowledge that the European away goal rule has been scrapped this season by UEFA as they head to the Karaiskaki Stadium in Athens next week for the second leg to determine who will advance to the last 16 of the Europa League.

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