December 09, (THEWILL) – Atalanta pulled off a late surge but were unable to prevent Villarreal, who needed only a draw to proceed to the knockout stages, from prevailing in the final fixture of their Group F UEFA Champions League encounter at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday.
Arnaut Danjuma scored two goals for the Yellow Submarines, while Etienne Capoue also scored to ensure the visitors returned home with all three points.
This left Atalanta with a four-goal deficit to qualify and they came exceedingly close.
Ruslan Malinovsky had a free-kick rebound against the angle of post and crossbar before scoring, and Duvan Zapata added a second.
But, Atalanta ran out of time in a fixture where they required something truly spectacular to give themselves a chance to reach the next round.
With the win, Villareal move into second place in the group, one point behind Manchester United, while Atalanta came in third and will drop into the UEFA Europa League knockout stages for the draw on Monday.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
