Ademola Lookman and Nicolò Zaniolo gave Atalanta a deserved and prestigious Champions League victory away to VfB Stuttgart.
La Dea were coming off five consecutive Serie A victories, including Sunday’s 3-0 away to leaders Napoli, but in Europe had one win and two 0-0 draws. Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca were still out of action, while VfB had beaten Juventus 1-0 in Turin and missed Dan-Axel Zagadou, Yannik Keitel, Luca Raimund and Jamie Leweling. El Bilal Touré started against his former club.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Mario Pasalic drilled just wide from the edge of the area, but Roualt turned a free header over from six yards on the short corner routine.
There was bad news for Atalanta, who lost Sead Kolasinac to injury just 13 minutes into the match, replaced by Odilon Kossounou.
The hosts had penalty appeals waved away, as El Bilal Toure seemed to run into Davide Zappacosta rather than the other way around.
Pasalic’s first touch let him down on an Ederson through ball into the penalty area, then Millot blasted over from distance.
Charles De Ketelaere came on for the restart and made an immediate impact, as Lookman intercepted a loose ball in midfield to send the Belgian down the right dribbling past two, then was ready to meet the pull-back with a tap-in from five yards.
The deadlock is broken in Stuttgart ⚽
Ademola Lookman charges into the six-yard box to finish off a lovely bit of work from Charles De Ketelaere ⚡
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Ederson was booked for a tackle from behind and will be suspended for Atalanta’s next Champions League tie.
Fuhrich completed a rapid give and go down the left only for the pull-back to be intercepted with difficulty, then on the resulting corner Toure and Demirovic both failed to get the decisive touch in the six-yard box.
De Ketelaere’s crouching header on the Davide Zappacosta cross tested the goalkeeper at the near post, while Malanga’s strike was deflected onto the side-netting by Raoul Bellanova.
Stenzel came close with a ferocious effort from outside the area that swerved inches past the far post.
However, moments later VfB gifted the second goal to Atalanta, because Rouault shinned the attempted clearance and allowed Zaniolo to go clear for his first goal for this club.
VfB Stuttgart 0-2 Atalanta
Lookman 51 (A), Zaniolo 88 (A)
Player statistic
| Anrie Chase |  |
41' | ||
| 44' | |
Isak Hien |
| 51' |  |
Ademola Lookman (Assist: Charles De Ketelaere) | ||
| 55' | |
Éderson | ||
| Ermedin Demirovic | |
69' | ||
| 79' | |
Raoul Bellanova | ||
| 88' | |
Nicolò Zaniolo |
Match statistic
