On matchday 2 of the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League Group F at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo (the first match in the competition in front of the fans in Bergamo), Atalanta claim an important win over Young Boys: Pessina scored the winner in the second half.

Zapata tried to open the scoring in the 5th minute but the goalkeeper parried the shot and the Nerazzurri lost Gosens to injury in the 9th minute (Mæhle replaced him). Toloi set up an own goal from Lauper on 17 minutes but VAR confirmed the captain was offside and the goal was disallowed. Young Boys defended themselves well and had a chance in the 28th minute when they quickly went on the counterattack and Elia fired wide. At the other end, Pessina had a good chance in the final minutes of the first half but he didn’t make enough contact to prod past the goalkeeper. The pressure from the Nerazzurri kept on growing and Toloi and, above all, Zappacosta tested von Ballmoos on 62 minutes. The deadlock was broken in the 68th minute: Zapata did not give up, won the ball on right and rolled it across for Pessina, who only had to tap in. Muriel almost doubled Atalanta’s lead in the final minutes but the final chance of the game came off Martins Pereira, who fired over.

ATALANTA 1-0 BSC YOUNG BOYS

Scorers: Pessina 68 (A)

Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti, Zappacosta (Pezzella 90), de Roon, Freuler (Koopmeniers 90), Gosens (Mæhele 11), Malinovskyi (Muriel 75), Pessina (Pašalić 75), Zapata. Unused subs: Rossi, Sportiello, Scalvini, Miranchuk, Lovato, Iličić, Piccoli. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.

BSC Young Boys: Von Ballmoos, Hefti (Maceiras 84), Camara, Lauper, Garcia, Aebischer (Spielmann 84), Martins Pereira, Sierro (Mambimbi 69), Elia (Rieder 66), Moumi Ngamaleu, Siebatcheu (Kanga 66). Unused bench: Laidani, Faivre, Sulejmani, Jankewitz, Burgy, Lefort. Coach: David Wagner.

Referee: Felix Brych (GER).

Assistants: Mark Borsch (GER) and Stefan Lupp (GER).

Fourth official: Daniel Schlager (GER).

V.A.R.: Sascha Stegemann (GER).

A.V.A.R.: Deniz Aytekin (GER).

Notes: Zappacosta (A), Sierro (YB) booked.