Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 6y

Everton demolition was for the fans - Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini dedicated his side's 5-1 Europa League thrashing of Everton at Goodison Park to their thousands of travelling supporters.

The demolition made Atalanta the first Italian side to score and win at Goodison and was only their second away win in Europe, the first having come at Fenerbahce in November 1990.

Gasperini hailed a travelling contingent of around 3,500 fans and told Sky Sport Italia: "It's hard even just to imagine an evening like this. We even missed a penalty.

"This result exceeds any expectations and I'm delighted we're through, but we dedicate this to our fans, who have been following us away from home and even at Reggio-Emilia, where we've been playing our home games.

"It's going to be amazing continuing our travels around Europe with them in February."

The coach said he and his players would enjoy a drink or two on the way home, adding: "We're going to arrive late and I'm sure I'm not going to get any sleep. There'll be time for that later.

"Fortunately we're playing on Monday [against Benevento], so we've got an extra day to recover."

Atalanta president Antonio Percassi said that it was "probably one of, if not the best night" in the club's history.

"It's unexpected -- an historical result," he said. "Let's try to keep on giving such a good impression of ourselves."

Atalanta have scored 13 goals in this season's Europa League  and can wrap up top spot in the group by beating Lyon in a fortnight.

"If you believe in your dreams, you must pursue them," a tweet from the Serie A club said. "We have done that! Now we have made history!"

The result was the heaviest home defeat of an English side in the various guises of the competition since Nottingham Forest lost by the same scoreline to Bayern Munich in 1996.

It leaves Everton with only one point -- the joint worst English record in a European group stage with the 1995-6 Blackburn Rovers side -- and they have already lost more games at Goodison Park this season than in the whole of last season.

Only Vardar, who have let in 19 goals, and Austria Vienna (16) have conceded more than Everton's 15 in five Europa League fixtures.

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