Atalanta’s fairytale Champions League run continued inside an empty stadium on Tuesday as Josip Ilicic scored four times in a 4-3 win over Valencia that sent his team into the quarter finals 8-4 on aggregate.
A frantic contest inside an echoing Mestalla stadium was the first of several in the competition to be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus, with 55,000 vacant seats creating a surreal atmosphere that was never likely to deliver a momentous Valencia comeback.
They had been tasked with overturning a 4-1 defeat from the opening game in Italy and any hopes were all-but dashed inside 90 seconds when Mouctar Diakhaby conceded the first of two penalties, each converted by Ilicic.
In between, Kevin Gameiro had levelled for Valencia and then scored again shortly after half-time before Ferran Torres lobbed in to leave the hosts needing three in just over 20 minutes.
Yet any chance of a revival was quickly snuffed out as Ilicic completed his hat-trick and added a fourth to ensure Atalanta ended a strange evening with their names in the draw on March 20.
The Slovenia international also became the first player to score four times away from home in a Champions League knockout match.
Ilicic betterd Zlatan Ibrahmovic’s record to become the oldest player to score an away hat-trick in the Champions League.
The Slovenian, aged 32 years and 41 days, beat the previous record held by Ibrahimovic, who was aged 32 years and 20 days when he scored four goals for Paris Saint-Germain against Anderlecht in October 2013.
Atalanta’s progress remains the greatest surprise of this year’s tournament, in which they lost all three of their opening group games and are featuring for the first time in the club’s 113-year history.
“After a difficult start to this competition, we got the hang of it,” said coach Gian Piero Gasperini afterwards.
After the final whistle, the players held up a shirt to a television camera that had the message, for their home city “Bergamo, this is for you!” written across the front.
Spain announced on Monday that all schools in the Madrid area will close on Wednesday while La Liga had confirmed earlier on Tuesday that all matches in the top two divisions will be played behind closed doors for two weeks at least.
Weren’t strong: Alli
In Leipzig, Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli questioned his side’s mental strength after RB Leipzig cruised to a 3-0 win on Tuesday to progress 4-0 on aggregate to the quarter finals.
Leipzig captain Marcel Sabitzer struck twice in the first 21 minutes before substitute Emil Forsberg added the third late on with his first touch.
“We were second to a lot of balls. To concede them goals shows our mentality wasn’t strong enough,” added Alli. “We had to show maturity and fight and we didn’t do that and we were punished.”
Spurs travelled to eastern Germany shorn of striking options without the injured Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Steven Bergwijn.
It will be very difficult for the injury-ravaged squad to qualify for next season’s Champions League, manager Jose Mourinho said.
“With the squad we have at the moment it’s going to be very difficult. These problems are not going to disappear tomorrow,” Mourinho told reporters.
“I think every team in the world would struggle with five or six of their most important players missing, it is as simple as that,” said Mourinho, whose side host fifth-placed Manchester United on Sunday.
