Lazar Samardzic’s penalty with the last kick of the game sent Atalanta through to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League following a sensational win over Borussia Dortmund in Bergamo on Wednesday night.
Atalanta staged an incredible comeback against Borussia Dortmund to secure a place in the last 16 of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Lazar Samardzic scored the tie-winning goal from the penalty spot with the final kick of the game deep into added time to secure a 4-1 win on the night for Raffaele Palladino’s side. That meant that they won 4-3 on aggregate.
Goals from Gianluca Scamacca, Davide Zappacosta and Mario Pasalic had put them 3-0 up in Bergamo, before Karim Adeyemi’s goal looked like sending the game to extra time. But Samardzic’s last-gasp goal made sure that Italy will have at least one team within the final 16 for the 38th successive season of European Cup/Champions League competition.
After losing 2-0 in Dortmund in the first leg last week, Atalanta knew it would be a difficult task to overturn the deficit and progress to the last 16. They needed to do something that they’d never previously done in three attempts against BVB – win a match, having drawn one and lost two of their other meetings.
History told us that Atalanta had been eliminated from each of their last four major European knockout stage ties when losing the first leg, but they flew out of blocks in an attempt to end that sequence.
Scamacca got them off to a perfect start just five minutes in. A low cross was deflected into the path of the Italian striker, who converted from close range to halve the deficit in the tie.
With his opener, the tall Italian became only the third player to score in three consecutive home appearances in major European competition for Atalanta, after Oliviero Garlini in April 1988 (Cup Winners’ Cup) and Ademola Lookman in February 2025 (Champions League).
Dortmund looked out of sorts and didn’t attempt a single shot until the 27th minute via the always-dangerous Serhou Guirassy.
Just like in the first leg of the tie, the home side took a 2-0 lead into half-time and wiped out Dortmund’s advantage.
Davide Zappacosta grabbed the goal just before the break, scoring only his second goal in major European competition, and first since his first such game for Chelsea versus Qarabag in September 2017. He’d gone 52 games without scoring in major UEFA competitions between these two strikes.
Dortmund came close to retaking the lead in the tie when Maximilian Beier surged into the box eight minutes into the second half, but the German’s strike agonisingly hit the foot of the post before Julian Brandt was unable to adjust his body in time to convert the rebound, instead diverting the ball out for a goal kick.
They were made to pay for that miss just five minutes later, when Atalanta took the lead in the tie for the first time. A sensational whipped crossed from captain Marten de Roon met the head of 6-foot-2 Pasalic, who converted past Gregor Kobel for his second UCL goal of the campaign.
Dortmund needed to find a goal and introduced Adeyemi from the bench in the 70th minute. Just five minutes and four seconds after coming on, the 24-year-old scored with a wonderful, curling strike beyond the diving Marco Carnesecchi after cutting in from the left wing.
With the game looking like going to extra time, a mistake from Kobel carelessly lost possession out wide, before the ball was chipped into the box, where Nikola Krstovic was waiting to head into the goal. Ramy Bensebaini attempted to clear the ball, but his studs made contact with Krstovic’s head. A VAR check recommended a penalty kick, which referee José María Sánchez Martínez awarded, alongside a second yellow for Bensebaini.
Samardzic converted the penalty with the final kick of the game, expertly curling his spot-kick into the top corner to send the Italian club through.
Atalanta’s success was a rare tale of overturning a UEFA Champions League knockout tie after losing the first leg by two or more goals. They became just the 16th side to do it in the competition’s history, and the first since Liverpool against Barcelona in the 2018-19 semi-final.
The reward for progression tonight? Arguably the trickiest possible tie of the last 16 against either Bayern Munich or Arsenal. The draw awaits on Friday 27 February.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Atalanta vs Borussia Dortmund stats from their UEFA Champions League meeting at New Balance Arena on 25 February 2026.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Atalanta 4-1 Borussia Dortmund Post-Match Facts
Atalanta are the first side to overturn a two-goal first leg deficit in a UEFA Champions League knockout tie since Liverpool progressed past Barcelona in the 2018-19 semi-final. Borussia Dortmund are just the second German side to be eliminated from a two-legged UEFA Champions League knockout tie when winning the first leg by 2+ goals, after Wolfsburg vs Real Madrid in the 2015-16 quarter-finals. Lazar Samardzic’s penalty for Atalanta was the second-latest goal (excluding extra-time). scored on record (since 2003-04) in the UEFA Champions League, timed at 97 minutes and 53 seconds.Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Atalanta 4-1 Borussia Dortmund Stats (4-3 agg): Crazy Comeback Completed with Last-Gasp Samardzic Penalty Opta Analyst.
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