Atalanta defeated Borussia Dortmund 4-1 on Wednesday with a stoppage-time penalty kick from Lazar Samardzic, advancing the Italian team 4-3 overall to the Champions League round of 16.
Atalanta’s goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Zappacosta by halftime neutralized Dortmund’s 2-0 lead from the first leg, despite Dortmund being down from the start.
Karim Adeyemi’s solo goal pulled Dortmund even after Mario Pasalic handed the home team the lead in the match.
Ramy Bensebaini was penalized for striking Nikola Krstovic in the face with a high boot in the box, which resulted in extra time.
Bensebaini received a second yellow card when referee Jose Sanchez correctly pointed to the spot.
In the 98th minute, Samardzic scored the penalty with what was essentially the final kick of the game.
Sead Kolasinac, a former Arsenal defender for Atalanta, claimed to have experienced “a whirlwind of emotions” in the closing seconds.
“When the referee decided for a penalty, I didn’t know who would take it. All our penalty takers had been substituted, but luckily Lazar converted brilliantly,” Kolasinac told DAZN.
With the draw scheduled for Friday, Atalanta will play either German champions Bayern Munich or Premier League leaders Arsenal in the round of 16.
Under Raffaele Palladino, who took over from the struggling Ivan Juric in November, Atalanta is unbeaten domestically in 10 games in 2026.
The victory also helped save the blushes of Italy’s Champions League teams in this season’s competition.
Inter Milan’s unexpected elimination to Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday left Atalanta and Juventus, who host Galatasaray later on Wednesday, trailing 5-2 from the first leg.
A Serie A team hasn’t missed the European Cup round of 16 since 1987–88.
With Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich scheduled to visit on Saturday, 2024 finalists Dortmund, who were stunned by their earliest Champions League departure since 2021–2022, will need to recover fast.
Emre, the captain of Dortmund, told DAZN that they should be eliminated because of his tendency to make mistakes.
“If you make so many individual errors, it’s going to be difficult to progress… We were very unlucky, but to be honest, we didn’t deserve to advance.”
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac stated on Monday that his team’s prospects of making it to the round of 16 were “50-50” despite their first-leg advantage. He also pledged that his team will not sit back and preserve their lead.
After four minutes, Nicola Zalewski’s attempt was stopped by visiting goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, but Atalanta scored a goal a minute later when Scamacca easily scored from close range following Bensebaini’s botched clearing.
Just before halftime, Zappacosta’s speculative attempt took a strong deflection off Bensebaini and went in, stinging Dortmund once again.
Atalanta kept turning the screw as Dortmund’s lead from the first leg was reduced. Early in the second half, Pasalic headed in a cross from Marten de Roon to take the lead in the match.
With fifteen minutes remaining, substitute Adeyemi curled in a brilliant attempt from the edge of the box to square the aggregate score.
Bensebaini’s terrible night became worse when he struck Krstovic’s head late in stoppage time, with extra time looming.
Given the Algerian’s marching orders and Sanchez gesturing to the spot, VAR determined that the contact was risky even though he touched the ball first.
Samardzic, a midfielder from Serbia, remained composed and scored the penalty with his left foot.
