Spanish club Villarreal completed the 16th round of the European Champions League, after defeating Italian hosts Atalanta 3-2, on Thursday, in the sixth (last) round of the sixth group matches of the group stage of the continental competition.
The match was scheduled for Wednesday evening, but it was decided to postpone it for today, due to heavy snowfall in the Italian city of Bergamo, which hosted the meeting.
Villarreal’s balance, which needed only a point to reach the playoffs, rose to 10 points in second place, a point behind Manchester United (the leaders), while Atalanta’s balance stopped at 6 points in third place, to move to play in the European League.
Villarreal opened the scoring early through Dutchman Arnot Groeneveld in the third minute, before Frenchman Etienne Capoy added the second goal for the Spanish team in the 42nd minute.
Gruenefeld scored again, scoring the third goal for the visitors and his second personal goal in the 51st minute, while the Ukrainian Ruslan Malinovsky scored the first goal for Atalanta in the 71st minute, then the Colombian Duvan Zapata added the second goal for the Italian team in the 80th minute.
Villarreal, who is participating in the Champions League this season after winning the European League last season, became the third representative of Spanish football in the competition’s playoffs, after Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, after the early exit of Barcelona and Seville from the group stage.
