Europa League champions Atalanta missed out on an automatic place in the Champions League last 16 with a 2-2 draw at Barcelona on Wednesday, with Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo scoring for the already-qualified hosts.
Atalanta, who were missing one of their top strikers Ademola Lookman because of a knee injury, slipped down to ninth in the standings on 15 points and will play in the two-legged knockout phase playoff round instead.
Five-time winners Barcelona, who last lifted the trophy in 2015, had already secured their last-16 berth last week through a dramatic 5-4 comeback win at Benfica.
“The result was OK,” said Barcelona manager Hansi Flick. “We played against an opponent with a very good team, a great philosophy, the style they play. We have the confidence to make things a little different in the second half. The first goal was like that, it was good to see the team follow that.
“Of course really happy, we finish second, which is the first step in the Champions League. It’s a big success for the team to finish second.”
Yamal gave Barcelona the lead two minutes after the break from point-blank range before Ederson levelled for Atalanta in the 67th minute with a stunning shot from the edge of the area that sailed inside the left post.
Defender Araujo restored the lead for Barca with a header following a corner in the 72nd, but Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic equalised again seven minutes later, nutmegging goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with a low strike.
“The only thing is we can defend better as a team,” Flick said. “We have to analyse everything and make it better. We have to work on some things and we have the potential to do even more — and now we will have some weeks to work in training [with no knockout round games].”
Atalanta, who had to measure themselves against teams such as Arsenal and Real Madrid in the competition’s new league phase, will know their playoff rivals in the draw on Friday, with the games being played on Feb. 11-12 and Feb. 18-19.
