RB Leipzig 1-1 Atalanta Zappacosta blund
RB Leipzig and Atalanta shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday to set up a winner-takes-all decider in Bergamo.Domenico Tedescos Bundesliga side made it 10 games unbeaten acro s all competitions with a 4-1 thumping of Boru sia Dortmund on Saturday but found themselves behind at the Red Bull Arena when Luis Muriel struck after 17 minutes.Gian Piero Gasperinis visitors thought they had escaped lightly when Andre Silva saw his penalty saved by Juan Mu so after the break, but Davide Zappacosta miscued into his own goal to restore parity.Neither team could find a
Jahmi'us Ramsey Jersey late winner, with Teun Koopmeiners and Dominik Szoboszlai denied by the woodwork, which leaves it all to play for in the return leg next Thursday. Christopher Nkunku skewed a half-chance wide from Benjamin Henrichs mishit strike in an otherwise uneventful opening to the contest.
Tyrese Haliburton Jersey But Muriel sparked the tie into life when he ghosted inside from the left flank before expertly whipping into the top-right corner for his fourth goal in European competition this season, his best tally.Muriel almost repeated the trick shortly after but his left-footed drive narrowly evaded the far corner, before the woodwork denied Silva and Mario Pasalic at either end.Peter Gulacsi pushed away a teasing Muriel curler from range after the interval, before Merih Demiral needle sly felled Nkunku inside the area.Mu so denied Silvas spot-kick before an excellent reflex save thwarted Willi Orban
Dewayne Dedmon Jersey on the rebound, but Leipzig equalised moments later when Zappacosta inadvertently turned Angelinos cro s into his own net.Gulacsi then tipped a lowKoopmeinerseffort onto thepost andSzoboszlai headed onto the cro sbar, while Lukas Klostermann saw a late strike denied on the line following a goalmouth scramble from Emil Forsbergs corner as neither side could be separated.What does it mean? Leipzig faced with Italian jobLeipzig have only ever met one Italian side in European competition, eliminating Napoli in the round-of-32 in this competition back in 2017-18, but it will be a tough task heading to Bergamo.All of Atalantas seven meetings with German sides have come in the knockout stages of Europe, only failing to progre s against Dortmund, and they will now look to complete the job on home soil to make it into the last four.Cla sy KlostermannKlostermann coasted through the entertaining draw in imperious fashion as it appeared he had more time in po se sion than any other player, and he almost stole victory at the end as well.The German, acting as Tedescos right-sided centre-back in a three-man defence, recorded a
Sacramento Kings Hoodie game-high 109 touches, completed a game-leading 89 pa ses and was succe sful in all of his four duels.Sorry Silva offers little supportNkunku had been involved in more goals (nine eight goals and 1 a sist) than he had played games (eight) in European competition this season, so Silva may have been expected to play a supporting role.However, not only did the Portugal international spurn the chance from 12 yards,
Sacramento Kings Hats he also registered just 36 touches the fewest of any Leipzig starter in a timid showing.Whats next?The pair meet again for the return leg in Italy in a weeks time. Before that, Leipzig host Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Sunday, when Atalanta visit Sa suolo in Serie A.