Atalanta-Sporting, 2-1 Against calculating Italians to facilitate is the death of the artist: the chronicle of the elimination of the lions

Sporting ‘cute’ in terms of goals conceded and wasting 2-2 three times; However, in the sum of 180 minutes, it is difficult to speak of injustice

EACH game has its own story, and if a week ago, in Lisbon, Sporting, with an appreciable dose of luck, came out alive from the duel with Atalanta, and continued to dream of reaching the quarter-finals, in Bergamo it was just a victim of himself, in some moments that serve to explain to those who haven’t yet realized why facing Italians always entails an additional difficulty. Firstly because it seems like they play little, but the truth is that they know everything about football (that’s why they are four-time world champions); secondly, because they are experts at taking advantage of other people’s mistakes.

And that was essentially what happened in the 90 minutes at the Azzurri d’Itália stadium: the lions showed great personality, they circulated the ball with much more quality than the transalpine side, they took the lead in a very successful first half, in which they competently canceled out the counter attack, and when it seemed that they were more than in a position to checkmate their opponent, and win for the first time in Italy, they ended up having a sleepy return to the game, conceding a goal in a move that wasn’t even very dangerous, after a missed cut by St. Juste and poor positioning by Esgaio, only to see Atalanta take the lead, in a move in which, effectively, more than fighting to recover the ball, Amorim’s men only scored with eyes and paid the price.

In other words, from a defensive point of view, two moments of deconcentration were enough for the Italians not to forgive. And in attack (what a beautiful goal Pedro Gonçalves and Gyokeres invented…), the lions had three great opportunities to make it 2-2 (Edwards at 84 and 90, and Paulinho at 86) and were unable to get the ball into the background of Musso’s goal. For someone who has almost always played as well as Sporting, the outcome can only be frustrating; For the Italians it was nothing more than il nostro pane quotidiano (our daily bread).

(Only) reasonable provision

The game started with similar tactical systems and several pair fights. Sporting’s 3x4x3, despite not having been presented in the most daring version (which is with Catamo and Nuno Santos), was always much more fluid and engaging than Atalanta’s, corset by rigid functions, which prevented players from leaving the their areas of land. To this, Sporting added the ability to define well when to play with the ball from the goalkeeper, and the pragmatism of stretching forward, requesting the tireless Gyokeres, whenever the Italians reduced, through high pressure, the spaces.

The game was then heavily marked by one-on-one fights, between compatriots, in the case of Hien and Gyokeres, sprinters, as happened with Lookman and St.Juste or heavyweights, if we talk about Diomande and Scamacca. But there was yet another fight where, in the first half, the lions had the advantage: the Hjulmand-Pedro Gonçalves duo outperformed Ederson and De Roon, and set the pace of the match. Given this scenario, it could be said that Pedro Gonçalves’ injury, during the Leonine goal, weakened Sporting, but that would be unfair for Daniel Bragança who, without having his teammate’s finishing ability, ended up signing a beautiful presence in field. The same cannot be said for either the best Edwards or the best Trincão, who were conspicuous by their absence in Bergamo, and were greatly missed.

Finally, and speaking of the tie, if it is true that Sporting could have written another story in Italy, it is also true that Atalanta, in the 180 minutes, justified their passage to the quarter-finals…