Valencia v Atalanta, the last European chapter at Mestalla | OneFootball

On 10 March it is six years since Valencia last played in Europe, the Champions League tie with Atalanta that became Mestalla's final continental chapter. The club have not returned to European competition since.

Superdeporte notes that the prolonged absence has been a sporting and financial blow, stripping Valencia of vital income from television rights, ticketing and sponsorship, and shaping the club's planning.

Mestalla was empty amid the first shock of the pandemic. On 10 March 2020, as coronavirus spread across Spain, football was already behind closed doors and the city had just learned the Fallas were cancelled for the first time since the Civil War in 1939.

Albert Celades's side needed to overturn the 4-1 first leg defeat. Three minutes in, following the Generalitat's behind-closed-doors decree amid the coronavirus threat, Diakhaby conceded a penalty and Atalanta took the lead, the tie almost out of reach.

Valencia lost 3-4 at Mestalla and went out 8-4 on aggregate. They had reached the last 16 after finishing top of their Champions League group.

The XI was a 4-4-2 with Cillessen in goal, a back four of Wass, Coquelin, Diakhaby and Gayà, midfielders Ferran Torres, Parejo, Kondogbia and Carlos Soler, and a front pair of Gameiro and Rodrigo Moreno.

Source: Superdeporte