Atalanta pummel Valencia
Atalanta continued their dream debut Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a 4-1 make an impression on Valencia within an entertaining last-16 first leg meeting at San Siro.
Gian Piero Gasperini's Serie A side raced into a two-goal lead by halftime with goals from Hans Hateboer and Josip Ilicic, while Valencia were denied by the post.
Remo Freuler's curling strike and a second goal for Hateboer looked to have ended the tie as a contest, but substitute Denis Cheryshev gave the Spanish visitors a faint glimmer of hope with an away goal.
Two-time runners-up Valencia will host the Serie A side at the Mestalla Stadium in the return leg on March 10.
Despite the healthy lead his side will take into that game, Gasperini wasn't completely satisfied with his team's performance.
"We need to become more precise when we visit the Mestalla," the Atalanta coach told Sky Sport Italia.
"If you want to enter the quarter-finals, we need to play such as this at the Mestalla too, prove we deserve to be there with a show of strength, and win there too."
Atalanta qualified for Europe's top club competition for the very first time with a surprise third-place finish in Serie A last season, that was achieved despite having the 14th-highest wage budget in the division.
Playing their home games at Milan's San Siro after their own Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia didn't meet UEFA standards, they got off to a nightmare begin by losing their opening three group games, conceding 11 goals along the way.
But a home draw with Manchester City followed by wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk was enough to send them to the knockout stages.
A lot more than 45,000 fans travelled to Milan for Wednesday's game, 51 kilometres from Atalanta's hometown of Bergamo, that includes a population of just 120,000 people.
The Italians commenced in confident fashion, coming near the opener after just eight minutes when Mario Pasalic burst in to the box and saw his curling shot superbly saved by Jaume Domenech.
The hosts found the breakthrough when Hateboer met an Alejandro Gomez cross at the back post and slid in a finish from close range.
The goal drew a reply from Valencia, who were inches from an equaliser when Ferran Torres smashed a go against the post from a tight angle, before Goncalo Guedes' effort flew wide, just beyond the outstretched foot of Eliaquim Mangala.
However the Italians doubled their lead 3 minutes prior to the interval when Ilicic gathered the ball on the edge of the region and smashed a right-footed drive beyond Domenech.
The probabilities continued to flow in the next half and a third goal arrived when Freuler whipped a sublime finish into the top corner from the edge of the region.
Valencia striker Maxi Gomez squandered a glorious chance, firing a shot in to the scrambling Pierluigi Gollini's grasp with the goal gaping.
The Dutch international Hateboer struck again after 63 minutes, beating the offside trap on the proper wing before driving forward and firing home a finish.
Valencia eventually took among their chances to notch an away goal when a lazy pass from Jose Luis Palomino was pounced on by substitute Cheryshev, who drilled a shot into the bottom corner along with his first act of the overall game.
"Both sides had a whole lot of chances," Cheryshev told UEFA.com.
"We let them have a few clear-cut opportunities plus they could actually take them. We must think positively and football always offers you a opportunity for revenge."
