Atalanta held the Serie A defending champions Milan to a 1-1 tie on Sunday night thanks to a Ruslan Malinovskyi strike in the first half. The Bergamaschi caressed the dream of making a full score and turning back again into the Rossoneri‘s boogeyman (a Serie A classic) but were stunned by a clinical Ismael Bennacer curl that leveled things up for Stefano Pioli’s side.
Both teams rotated men in the second period but didn’t come close to threaten further their respective goalkeepers. At the end of the day, sharing the spoils was a fair score for a game whose outcome for both clubs was reaching four points in the league table – two behind leaders Inter and Napoli.
The man of the match was Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskyi, whose future is an authentic enigma. It was not even sure that the Ukrainian would feature tonight, but coach Gian Piero Gasperini surprisingly lined him up and the Tottenham-bound player repaid him scoring what might have been his last goal in Bergamo.
Will that be his farewell gift to the Atalanta supporters? One thing is for sure: the Bergamaschi fans at the Gewiss Stadium let their opinion heard tonight with a chant (“Ruslan please stay in Bergamo”) whose message was clear.
Stefano Pioli replied with his usual 4-2-3-1 setup where the only change versus one week ago against Udinese was the return of Sandro Tonali in the middle of the park, replacing Rade Krunic.
The match at the Gewiss Stadium was not a memorable one, but was embellished by the two goals that set the score. The first, scored by Malinovskyi, came on 29 minutes as the Ukrainian received the ball from Joakim Maehle and drilled it into the net with a fine left-foot conclusion.
Bennacer’s answer in the middle of the second half was equally beautiful: a stunning left-foot curl that hit the post and bounced past Juan Musso. The Algerian was helped by the corner flag in the occasion, which kept the ball in play when it seemed destined to finish past the end line and allowed the Rossoneri‘s action to continue.
For the rest, tonight’s match confirmed Milan’s defensive woes and offensive options: Pioli rotated all his attacking players, sending in newcomers Divock Origi and Charles De Ketelaere (the Belgian confirmed to have quite a fine touch with the ball on his feet). Ante Rebic, Rafael Leao, and Brahim Diaz all had a rough night after their impressive performance at the San Siro one week ago.
Atalanta, on the other hand, showed to have an interesting new offensive option in the name of Ademola Lookman but were forced to play once again with Duvan Zapata’s evil twin – the one that cannot play football. The once-lethal Colombian striker has scored only once in the last 14 games and was nowhere to be seen tonight.
Still, the Bergamaschi put together a solid performance against the defending Serie A champions, showing that those who consider their fantastic cycle over may need to wait a few more games to find evidence for their claim.
MATCH SCORECARD
August 21, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 2
ATALANTA – MILAN 1-1
SCORERS: 29′ Malinovskyi (A), 67′ Bennacer (M)
 |
ATALANTA (3-4-2-1): Musso; Tolói, Demiral, Djimsiti (81′ Okoli); Hateboer, de Roon, Koopmeiners, Maehle (87′ Zortea); Malinovskyi (71′ Lookman), Pašalić (71′ Scalvini); Zapata (71′Muriel) (Rossi, Sportiello, Ruggeri, Soppy, Boga) Coach: Gasperini |
 |
MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria (83′ Florenzi), Kalulu, Tomori, Hernández; Tonali, Bennacer; Messias (66′ Saelemaejers), Brahim Diaz (57′ De Kateleare), Rafael Leao (66′ Origi); Rebic (57′ Giroud) (Mirante, Tătăruşanu; Ballo-Touré, Florenzi, Gabbia, Kjaer; Adli, Bakayoko, Pobega) Coach: Pioli |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Toloi, Hateboer, de Roon, Djimsiti (A), Hernandez (M); Added Time: 1st Half: 1′, 2nd Half: 5′
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |