Atalanta did the bare minimum to beat Venezia 2-0 with Luis Muriel’s contentious goal and Joakim Maehle, and hit the woodwork twice, so will face either Napoli or Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
La Dea picked their strongest available XI including Muriel, Matteo Pessina and Teun Koopmeiners, having reached the Coppa Italia Final last season, losing to Juventus, and eager to do even better this time around.
Luca Lezzerini needed a desperate double save on Muriel and the Koopmeiners follow-up in the opening minutes.
Moments later, Muriel scored with a delightful bit of skill, chesting down a cross, then calmly committing the defender and goalkeeper by moving across to his left foot to tap into an empty net. There were some suggestions it might’ve been controlled with his arm, but after a long check, VAR decided it was a valid goal.
Sofiane Kiyine curled wide, but Koopneiners saw his header clip the top of the crossbar just before half-time.
Hans Hateboer blasted wide from a very promising position and Venezia had the ball in the net with a wonderful Domen Crnigoj volley, but Thomas Henry was in an offside position and dodged to get out of the way, so was definitely interfering with play.
Giuseppe Pezzella was also unfortunate at the other end, his strike thumping the base of the far post with the goalkeeper beaten.
Henry tested Juan Musso from close range, then the goalkeeper got away with a howler on a back-pass, denying the French striker.
Just as Venezia were pouring forward with desperation, David Schnegg slipped, sparking the counter-attack with Mario Pasalic and Joakim Maehle combining.
Atalanta will now play either Fiorentina or Napoli in the quarter-final next month.
Atalanta 2-0 Venezia
Muriel 13 (A), Maehle 88 (A)