Bayern Munich put on one of the more dominant displays in the Champions League Round of 16, demolishing Atalanta 10-2 over two legs — and featuring a heavy dose of squad rotation and youngsters in the second match while doing it.
But the experience, while a bitter disappointment for the Italian side, has left Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino with nothing but admiration.
“I want to congratulate Bayern, Vincent Kompany, and wish them the best of luck,” Palladino said after the match (as captured by
@iMiaSanMia). “We faced the best team in the world and our goal was to give it our all. We have to accept the result with humility and compliment the opponent. We learned a lot from these two games.”
The Serie A side gave…well, a reasonable account of themselves, and did net a consolation goal in each game. The only way to match Bayern this year appears to be, for most teams, catching them at a low point in squad availability or motivation. But the Bavarians were locked in for this tie and showed it — and having run into the buzzsaw, there is little left for Atalanta to do but learn what lessons it can.
Credit to a top class response from the coach. Now it’s back to Serie A, where the 7th-placed side needs to make a late push to land in the European spots this season.
Build Your Winning Bracket!
SB Nation’s CBB expert Mike Rutherford and resident bracketologist Chris Dobbertean will answer all your questions this week and help guide you to bracket glory!
Drop in SB Nation’s March Madness Feed all week long and we’ll have both on hand! (All times ET)
- Sun 7-10pm: Chris Dobbertean
- Mon-Wed 10am-1pm: Mike Rutherford
- Mon-Wed 5-8pm: Chris Dobbertean
- Thursday 9am-12pm: Chris Dobbertean and Mike Rutherford
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- New, improved notifications system!
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
