Union Saint-Gilloise almost took the lead at a raucous Lotto Park inside three minutes when Isak Hien’s lazy pass back to goalkeeper Marco Sportiello was seized on by Raul Florucz, but after rounding Sportiello, the Austrian saw his effort cleared off the line by the recovering Hien.
At the other end, the in-form Nikola Krstović nodded Éderson’s cross into the grateful arms of Kjell Scherpen, before Florucz had another opportunity to hit the target but delayed a moment too long and saw his strike blocked by a combination of Hien and 17-year-old Honest Ahanor.
In a game where the hosts needed a win to give themselves a chance of keeping their UCL adventure alive, they certainly didn’t seem short on confidence, knocking the ball about nicely at times, as Guilherme Smith’s curler drifted past the far post.
On the 39th minute, Ademola Lookman tested Scherpen for the first time, although the 6’9’’ goalkeeper was never really troubled by the effort from the Nigerian, who then passed up a chance to pull the trigger in first-half stoppage time, with Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Alexis, making a vital defensive intervention.
Atalanta were placed 10th at half time, so realistically needed a victory to finish in the top eight of the league phase and therefore progress automatically to the last 16.
It didn’t take their head coach, Raffaele Palladino, long to make changes after the restart, with a triple substitution including the withdrawal of Lookman, who had endured a frustrating evening.
Florucz was soon one of two players taken off by Palladino’s opposite number David Hubert, but the deadlock was not broken until the 70th minute, when after a free-kick was awarded to Union Saint-Gilloise for a foul on Florucz’s replacement Mohammed Fuseini by Ahanor.
The resulting delivery from Anouar Ait El Hadj was curled to the back post, where Anan Khalaili was waiting to divert the ball on target, although the goal was mostly down to Sportiello’s poor keeping.
The home fans didn’t care though, and despite Palladino’s final throw of the dice that saw him introduce Mario Pašalić, Union Saint-Gilloise, led by a defence that included the excellent Ross Sykes, saw out the win as Kamaldeen Sulemana fluffed his lines at the death - their first-ever victory at home in the UCL main draw.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ross Sykes (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise)