Atalanta keep growing and astonishing the Serie A. This year’s version of Gian Piero Gasperini’s Bergamaschi is far from the sparkling squad seen in the past few seasons but is terribly effective as exemplified by today’s win over Fiorentina.
Atalanta disposed of Vincenzo Italiano’s Viola at the Gewiss Stadium with a lone goal from Ademola Lookman, the second scored by the Nigerian striker this campaign. This allowed them to retain the top spot in the table alongside Napoli.
This is the best Serie A start ever for the Orobici, who collected 20 points out of 8 games and conceded only 3 goals so far. Again, this is not your typical Atalanta, but Gasperini and his boys seem to have taken their game to the next level as they understood that the Scudetto is often won via practicality and a no-nonsense defensive attitude rather than some flamboyant offensive displays.
It took a long time to see a real shooting attempt at the Gewiss Stadium today as the Bergamaschi wisely tried to control the match tempo to punish Fiorentina on the counter while Italiano’s men seemed to lack the necessary proactivity in the final third to create any trouble to goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano.
And so, the most interesting episode in the whole first half ended up being a controversial referee call. On 39 minutes, Fiorentina’s Christian Kouamé risked kicking Marteen de Roon in the face with a clumsy intervention. It was an unintentional yet naive gesture that initially earned the Ivorian a direct red card. However, the VAR corrected referee Massimiliano Irrati’s decision.
Atalanta managed to break the stalemate around the one-hour mark, courtesy of a brilliant initiative from Luis Muriel. The Colombian striker might still be far from his best days when it comes to finding the back of the net, but today provided a spectacular assist from the end-line, making the ball sneak between two Viola defenders to serve Lookman an easy chance to tap in from close range.
That proved enough for the home side to wrap up the game and retain the Serie A lead as Fiorentina’s late chances crashed against the Nerazzurri‘s goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.
Fiorentina collected their third Serie A loss so far and remained stuck in the middle of the league table. They will next face Hearts at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Thursday to try to revamp their Conference League campaign.
Atalanta, on the other hand, have no European endeavors to attend this season. But, considering how good their are faring domestically so far, the possibility to rest during the week may ultimately prove to be an advantage.
MATCH SCORECARD
October 2, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 8
ATALANTA – FIORENTINA 1-0
SCORER: 59′ Lookman
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ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Sportiello; Toloi (74′ Demiral), Okoli, Scalvini; Hateboer, Koopmeiners, De Roon, Soppy (55′ Maehle); Ederson (55′ Pasalic); Lookman (74′ Malinovskyi), Muriel (74′ Højlund) (Rossi, Bertini, Boga, Zortea, Ruggeri) Coach: Gasperini |
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FIORENTINA (4-3-3): Terracciano; Venuti (68′ Terzic), Martinez Quarta (86′ Duncan), Igor, Biraghi; Bonaventura (78′ Amrabat), Mandragora, Barak (75′ Jovic); Ikoné, Kouamé, Saponara (86′ Cabral) (Cerofolini, Gollini, Milenkovic, Maleh, Ranieri, Gonzalez, Zurkowski, Bianco) Coach: Italiano |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Bonaventura (F), Scalvini (A), Kouame (F), Hateboer (A); Added Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 5′
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