UEL | Rakow 0-4 Atalanta: Dominant Dea in Europe

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated Dec 14, 2023 4:52 PM ET

Luis Muriel bagged a brace around a debut goal from youth product Giovanni Bonfanti and Charles De Ketelaere, as Atalanta consolidated their Europa League group victory.

La Dea had already guaranteed first place, but were aiming to finish the group phase unbeaten. Sead Kolasinac, Jose Luis Palomino, Rafael Toloi, Gianluca Scamacca, Teun Koopmeiners and El Bilal Toure didn’t make the trip, so youth products Giovanni Bonfanti and Tommaso Del Lungo received their full debuts. Rakow could still snatch third place and a spot in the Conference League from Sturm Graz.

It took just 14 minutes to break through in Poland, as Aleksei Miranchuk won it back in midfield and found Muriel, who cut inside the defender, feinted a shot at the far bottom corner and instead surprised the goalkeeper going near post with the inside of the left boot.

The second goal was less classy and more chaotic, as a corner saw several attempted tap-ins charged down from close range until Giovanni Bonfanti bundled it over the line to celebrate his first senior start with a goal.

Rakow wasted an incredible opportunity to get one back, as a ball was flashed across the six-yard box and somehow Lukasz Zwolinski hit a fresh-air tap-in.

Just days after scoring an extraordinary back-heel flick winner against Milan in Serie A, Muriel tried again twice. The first was charged down by a defender, the rebound attempt then bounced off the base of the upright.

Muriel wasted a golden opportunity after the restart when springing the offside trap to fire wide with only the goalkeeper left to beat.

Miranchuk fired a couple of efforts off target and Zwolinski’s header went over from six yards, but Rakow had a big double chance on a corner. The Adnan Kovacevic header thumped the base of the upright and Marco Carnesecchi used his leg to parry the Ante Crnac follow-up.

Moments later, Atalanta got a third on the counter-attack, as Emil Holm rolled across from the right, Jean Carlos attempted to intercept, but instead ended up clearing it onto the foot of Muriel.

Carnesecchi again got his fingertips to a Zwolinski header and Crnac ballooned over the bar, but Mario Pasalic’s header was denied by a marvellous save on the line.

Tommaso De Nipoti was one of several youth academy products who came on for a cameo and completed a give and go to send De Ketelaere through for an angled drive into the far bottom corner.

Rakow 0-4 Atalanta

Muriel 14, 72 (A), Bonfanti 26 (A), De Ketelaere 92 (A)

14-12-2023 20:00 MatchDay 6 GIEKSA Arena

Raków Częstochowa

Atalanta 0 - 4

Player statistic

1st half

		14'		Luis Muriel (Assist: Aleksey Miranchuk)
		27'		Giovanni Bonfanti
		33'		Emil Holm

2nd half

	73'	Luis Muriel
Fran Tudor	75'
	79'

Giovanni Bonfanti 90+2'

Charles De Ketelaere

Match statistic

51 Possession % 49 15 Total shots 15 2 Shots on target 7 9 Shots off target 6 4 Blocked shots 2 6 Corners 6 Offsides 1 10 Fouls 16 Raków Częstochowa Atalanta

Starting lineups

1 Vladan Kovacevic Goalkeeper 15

Adnan Kovacevic Defender 25 Bogdan Racovitan Defender 7 Fran Tudor Defender 27 Bartosz Nowak Midfielder 81' 5 Gustav Berggren Midfielder 30

Vladyslav Kochergin Midfielder 62' 20 Jean Carlos Silva Attacker 78' 11

John Yeboah Attacker 62' 9 Lukasz Zwolinski Attacker 81' 14

Srdjan Plavsic Attacker 29

Marco Carnesecchi Goalkeeper 84' 3 Emil Holm Defender 84' 43 Giovanni Bonfanti Defender 33

Hans Hateboer Defender 21 Nadir Zortea Defender 46 Tommaso Del Lungo Defender 59

Aleksey Miranchuk Midfielder 89' 8

Mario Pasalic Midfielder 25

Michel Adopo Midfielder 90' 17

Charles De Ketelaere Attacker 9

Luis Muriel Attacker

90'

Substitutes

Antonis Tsiftsis Goalkeeper 29 Tobiasz Mras Attacker 77 Marcin Cebula Midfielder 62' 19 Ante Crnac Attacker 62' 22 Deian Sorescu Attacker 78' 93 Sonny Kittel Attacker 81' 99 Fabian Piasecki Attacker 81' 47 Matteo Colombo Midfielder 48 Alberto Manzoni Midfielder 40 Paolo Vismara Goalkeeper 49 Andrea Ceresoli Defender 51 Andrea Bonanomi Midfielder 31

Francesco Rossi Goalkeeper 84' 45 Marco Palestra Defender 84' 52 Tommaso De Nipoti Attacker 89' 99 Moustapha Cissé Attacker 90' 44

Leonardo Mendicino Midfielder

90'

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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