Atalanta hit the ground running in the 2023-2024 UEFA Europa League: Gasperini’s men came out on top of the Group D opener, defeating Raków Czestochowa 2-0 at the Gewiss Stadium courtesy of De Ketelaere and Éderson, both finding their scoring ways in the second half of the game.
Gasperini’s men got off to a strong start and tried to put pressure on the Polish side from the get-go. The first attempt was registered in the 4th minute as Muriel tested Kovacevic, then Lookman’s 18th-minute back-heel flick from Koopmeiners’ pass was just wide and one minute later, the Nigerian forward had another go with a curler from the left that was saved by the visiting goalkeeper. Raków gave it a whirl on 37 minutes with a Rundic header that went over the bar but the Nerazzurri threatened with two more chances, as De Ketelaere’s shot was parried in the 40th minute, Muriel’s 43rd-minute header was over and then Lookman came sliding in at the back post and fired over on 44 minutes.
The goal had been coming and the deadlock was broken inside 3 minutes of the restart when Zappacosta whipped in a cross from the right for De Ketelaere’s towering header that opened the scoring. After a few scoring chances created by Lookman and Koopmeiners, it was another header that doubled our lead, with Éderson being the scorer this time, assisted by Ruggeri, in the 66th minute. De Ketelaere almost grabbed his second goal of the evening on 74 minutes when his heading attempt was cleared off the line by a defender. Not a turn of the clock had passed that Musso was called into action, performing a superb hockey save to deny Lederman the goal when one-on-one. De Ketelaere was close to bagging a brace in the 87th minute but Kovacevic managed to charge down the effort and keep the scoreline down to 2-0.
A restless day-after awaits Gasperini’s men: tomorrow, Friday the 22nd of September, the Nerazzurri will be back to work at the Centro Bortolotti in Zingonia for an afternoon training session (to be held behind closed doors) ahead of the upcoming league fixture against Cagliari.
ATALANTA 2-0 RAKÓW CZESTOCHOWA
Scorers: De Ketelaere 49 (A), Éderson 66 (A).
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Djimsiti, Scalvini, Zappacosta (Holm 76), de Roon (Éderson 62), Koopmeiners, Ruggeri, De Ketelaere (Bakker 92), Muriel (Miranchuk 62), Lookman (Pašalić 76).
Unused substitutes: Carnesecchi, Rossi, Palomino, Zortea, Kolašinac, Adopo, Hateboer.
Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Raków Czestochowa: V. Kovacevic, Racovitan, A. Kovacevic, Rundic, Sorescu, Papanikolaou, Berggren, Plavsic (Jean Carlos 79), Kochergin (Cebula 61), Zwolinski (Crnac 71), Yeboah (Kittel 61).
Unused substitutes: Tsiftsis, Lederman, Nowak, Piasecki.
Coach: Dawid Szwarga.
Referee: Roi Reinshreiber (ISR).
Assistant referees: Sagy Metzamber (ISR) and Matityahu Yakobov (ISR).
4th Official: Idan Leiba (ISR).
V.A.R. Marc Fritz (GER)
A.V.A.R. Ivan Bebek (CRO).
Notes: de Roon (A) booked.
