It’s four wins out of four games for Atalanta in 2021 as the Orobici easily cruised past Cagliari in a Coppa Italia Round of 16 game despite leaving many of their starters on the bench. Gian Piero Gasperini drew from his fresh forces, including Aleksei Miranchuk and new joiner Joakim Maehle and neither of them disappointed him – especially the Russian striker, who scored the first goal as Atalanta wrapped a comfortable 3-1 win.
For Cagliari, Eusebio Di Francesco also left many of his starters on the bench, including goalkeeper Alessio Cragno. But his substitute Guglielmo Vicario proved equal to the task, denying Atalanta on multiple occasions before eventually capitulating on 43 minutes from a deadly left-foot volley from Miranchuk.
The Bergamaschi continued to attack in the second half despite Gasperini being forced to renounce to injured Matteo Pessina, but it was Cagliari to unexpectedly draw level in the 55th minute, courtesy of a brilliant Riccardo Sottil progression that ended with a sharp shot from a tight angle.
Gasperini was furious and his boys seemed to receive the message as they retook the lead after six minutes with Luis Muriel and made it three four minutes later with defender Bosko Sutalo. There could have been more goals, but Vicario continued to steal the stage with more brilliant saves, including a sensational deflection from a Ruslan Malinovskyi free kick.
Atalanta will need to wait one week to know the name of their next Coppa Italia opponent, as they will face the winner of the Lazio – Parma match-up, which is scheduled for next Thursday.
MATCH REPORT
January 14, 2021 – Coppa Italia 2020-21 Round of 16
ATALANTA-CAGLIARI 3-1
SCORERS: 43′ Miranchuk (A), 55′ Sottil (C), 61′ Muriel (A), 65′ Sutalo (A)
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ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Sportiello; Sutalo, Romero, Djimsiti; Maehle, Pessina (46′ De Roon), Freuler (75′ De Paoli), Gosens (68′ Hateboer); Malinovskyi; Miranchuk (68′ Ilicic), Muriel (88′ Palomino) (Rossi, Gollini, Toloi, Lammers, Gyabuaa, Cortinovis, Zapata) Coach: Gasperini |
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CAGLIARI (4-2-3-1): Vicario; Zappa, Ceppitelli, Walukiewicz, Tripaldelli (83′ Lykogiannis); Marin, Caligara (66′ Joao Pedro); Tramoni (72′ Pereiro), Nandez, Sottil (83′ Ounas); Pavoletti (66′ Cerri) (Aresti, Cragno, Boccia, Delpupo, Simeone) Coach: Di Francesco |
REFEREE: Mr. Dionisi from L’Aquila
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Ilicic (A)