Madrid win away from home against Atalanta in 5-goal thriller

Photo: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

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Hello darkness my old friend! That’s the song the Atalanta fans sing before the teams come out in Bergamo. There is something very chilling about it. The lights go off in the stadium and the Atalanta fans sing it starting very slowly and finishing like they mean business.

Atalanta are currently the holders of the Europa league but of course Madrid are the kings of Europe, having won two of the last three UEFA Champions League trophies.

Madrid got off to a flyer with Kylian Mbappe twisting and turning the Atalanta defence all over the place and banging it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 on the night after just nine minutes.

However on the 33 minute-mark Mbappe went down with a thigh strain and that was the end of his night. Atalanta were glad to see the back of him. Atalanta looked a little bit more like themselves and started to get a grip in the midfield. Madrid had been relentless in the first half hour of the game.

Madrid took a little time to adjust to Mbappe going off injured. It opened the door to Atalanta and on the 45th minute Atalanta were awarded a penalty. Charles de Ketelaere banged the penalty into the back of the net to level the match at 1-1. The roof nearly came off the refurbished Atalanta stadium.

Madrid came out in the second half and it did not take them long to get back ahead. With Mbappe gone it was their star Brazilian Vini Junior with some exquisite skill to put the holders ahead again in the 55th minute after sloppy defending by the Italians.

Three minutes later Jude Bellingham took control of a long ball and cut inside before finishing from just inside the box to make it 3-1 to the holders.

However on the 65th minute Atalanta were back in the match once again. It was Lookman of course catching Madrid cold and unleashing an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season. It was back to 3-2 and game on.

Atalanta could smell blood. But even with four minutes of injury time and a glorious chance for Mateo Retegui in the last minute, when he somehow volley over the bar from five yards out of an empty net, they couldn’t get the equaliser that their pressure deserved.

The win sees Madrid close the gap between them and Atalanta to two points, with both teams set to advance to the next round as things stand.