UCL | Atalanta 1-6 Bayern Munich: An unbelievable difference in levels

Atalanta were outclassed and humiliated on home soil as Bayern Munich stuck six goals past them in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie in Bergamo on Tuesday night: Josip Stanisic, Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry, Nicolas Jackson and Jamal Musiala and Mario Pasalic with the goals. 

Atalanta pulled out a miraculous escape against Bundesliga opposition in Borussia Dortmund in the play-off rounds in order to qualify for this evening’s clash against Bayern, who finished second in the league phase and qualified for this stage of the competition automatically as a result.

There were a few surprising selections as Raffaele Palladino switched to a back four and deployed both Gianluca Scamacca and Nikola Krstovic in attack. Ederson, Charles De Ketelaere and Giacomo Raspadori were unavailable through injury and Giorgio Scalvini through suspension. Bayern, meanwhile, left Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala out of their starting line-up, but were still able to deploy an attacking unit of Olise, Gnabry, Luis Diaz and Jackson. 

Click here to see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

It was an intense start after kick-off in Bergamo, and despite Atalanta dispossessing their opponents in their own half twice within the opening minutes, it was Bayern who registered the first shot on target through Olise. 

Bayern continued to put their foot on the throttle early on and found the opener in the 12th minute. It was a quick corner routine that gave them the lead: Atalanta switched off for the briefest of moments and were punished. Olise’s corner went short to Gnabry, who squared it to Stanisic to tap in. 

The Bavarians doubled their advantage 10 minutes later with an Olise special. 

The Frenchman cut in off the right flank, took a few touches to set himself on his wonderful left foot and dispatched a curling effort right into the side netting in the far corner of the net. 

Things went from bad to worse for La Dea when Gnabry added a third less than five minutes later. 

Goalkeeper Urbig went long over the top, Olise did brilliantly to bring the ball under control and slip it to Gnabry, who raced into the area and dispatched past Carnesecchi with ease when one-on-one. 

Bayern, away from home and not even at the halfway stage of the first leg, were not content with a three-goal lead and continued to send in the warning shots. 

Jackson should have done better one-on-one with Carnesecchi, Gnabry clipped the crossbar and Dayot Upamecano was inexplicably given acres of space in the middle of the park to line up a shot, which fortunately went wide, all before the interval. 

Bayern picked up where they left off at the beginning of the second half. Nicola Zalewski fired a free-kick into the Bavarian’s wall in the 52nd minute, which allowed Kompany’s side to spring a counter-attack and finish through Jackson one-on-one. 

Olise added his second of the game with another special finish off that magical left boot of his. It was a similar move to his first, again off the right flank, and again, perfectly into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area. 

Bayern hit Atalanta for six with their next attack of the game. Jackson found himself out on the right flank, danced past his defender and supplied a cross into the six-yard box for Musiala to poke home. 

Bayern could have had one or two more before full-time as well: Upamecano came closest with his header that bounced off the upright.

Mario Pasalic gave the Atalanta supporters a brief cheer in injury time with a late consolation goal. Raoul Bellanova did well travelling down the right flank and provided a decent ball into the middle. Krstovic and Urbig collided in the middle, but the ball fell kindly for the Croatian to poke home.

Atalanta will still have to travel to Bavaria to take on Bayern in the second leg of this tie next weekend, but after Tuesday’s hammering, this now seems an unfortunate formality for La Dea. 

Atalanta 0-6 Bayern Munich

Stanisic 12′, Olise 22′, 64′, Gnabry 25′, Jackson 52′, Musiala 67′, Pasalic 90+3′.