Villarreal take last CL spot

BERGAMO, Italy (AP):

Villarreal secured the final place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League (CL) football competition by holding on for a 3-2 win at Atalanta yesterday in a game that had been postponed because of snowfall.

The Spanish side only needed a draw to advance as runners-up from Group F but jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the 51st minute, before holding off Atalanta’s comeback attempt.

Arnaut Danjuma opened the scoring in the third minute on a counter-attack with a clinical finish between the legs of Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso.

Étienne Capoue doubled the advantage before half-time, striking into the roof of the net, and Danjuma added his second after the break when he turned around his marker before scoring.

Atalanta answered with two goals from Duván Zapata and substitute Ruslan Malinovskyi, but it was too late to turn things around.

Atalanta finished third in the group and will enter a play-off to get into the last 16 of the second-tier Europa League, the competition Villarreal won last season.

The match was originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday but had to be rescheduled because of heavy snow in northern Italy.

UEFA Champions League Group F

P W D L GF GA GD Pts

Man. United 6 3 2 1 11 8 3 11

Villarreal 6 3 1 2 12 9 3 10

Atalanta 6 1 3 2 12 13 -1 6

Young Boys 6 1 2 3 7 12 -5 5

Teams advancing to Round of 16

Group AMan City

PSG

Group B

Liverpool

Ath Madrid

Group C

Ajax

Sporting CP

Group D

Real Madrid

Inter

Group E

Bayern

Benfica

Group F

Man Utd

Villarreal

Group G

Lille

Salzburg

Group H

Juventus

Chelsea