Atalanta converting a penalty has become something of a rarity but Marten de Roon was relieved to see Luis Muriel slot his spot kick home in their 2-0 defeat of Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
In need of a win to stand a chance of progressing from their group, Atalanta were handed an opportunity when Muriel himself was fouled in the first half.
Having seen Josip Ilicic miss from 12 yards against Shakhtar Donetsk – which Atalanta lost in the last minute – and Musa Barrow crash his own off the bar against Juventus on Saturday, the Colombian’s conversion was much needed medicine.
“Fortunately we scored the penalty this time,” he laughed in the mixed zone afterwards.
“We’re really happy because it was our first win and it was a great game.
“We attacked from the first to last minute and kept pressing. We tried to score goals and we had maybe four or five exceptional chances in the first half which we missed.”
Papu Gomez stole the show on the night and he scored a stunning second early in the second half which gave Atalanta some breathing room and De Roon admitted that the No.10’s goal calmed things down somewhat.
“Papu’s goal gave us more calmness, more serenity,” he continued. “Then we didn’t stop attacking, we tried to score the third goal, which we deserved.
“It was a great night and we want to continue like this.
“We said before tonight, we need to win both matches to stay in Europe and with a bit of fortune, maybe even in the Champions League.
“Only victory counts. It will be very difficult match there because Shakhtar are a strong team. We have to win.”
Atalanta were hammered 4-0 in Zagreb in their Champions League debut and De Roon acknowledged that it’s hard to explain the difference in result and performance.
“We didn’t play in Zagreb,” he said. “It was a match in which Atalanta weren’t there. Against Shakhtar we played quite well but we threw it away in the last minute.
“It’s always difficult to explain. Today maybe we prepared a bit better.
“We played the ball well and with depth and they dropped deeper and we had more chances.”
