Atalanta swept Olympiacos aside 3-0 in Athens, 5-1 on aggregate, to reach the Europa League Round of 16 with Joakim Maehle and a very special brace from Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovskyi.
La Dea won the first leg 2-1 with a quickfire Berat Djimsiti brace after the Tiquinho Soares opener. The injury crisis intensified even more with no available strikers, as Luis Muriel, Duvan Zapata, Josip Ilicic, Aleksei Miranchuk and Jose Luis Palomino were all unavailable.
Aguibou Camara drilled just wide and Mattia Pessina sprinted down the right only to see his pull back for Hans Hateboer intercepted in the box.
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Atalanta took the lead soon after, as Joakim Maehle ran onto a Marten de Roon through ball and Lala appeared to be in front of him, but the Dane smartly toe-poked it past the on-rushing goalkeeper.
Yann M’Vila saw his volley flash wide and a Masouras lob was off target, even if he might’ve been offside anyway.
Atalanta doubled their lead with a wonderfully-worked team goal. Teun Koopmeiners won it back in midfield, Jeremie Boga burst down the left, Koopmeiners again rolled it across and Malinovskyi thumped the left-foot strike into the top corner from the edge of the area.
The Ukraine international lifted his shirt to show a message: ‘No to war in Ukraine.’
Moments later, Malinovskyi showed what he’s famous for with a simply unstoppable strike into the top corner from a good 25-30 metres out. It had been a tough day for Malinovskyi, whose country was invaded by Russia overnight.
Olympiacos 0-3 Atalanta (1-5 agg)
Maehle 40 (A), Malinovskyi 67, 69 (A)
What a player, would be dream to see him at juve