Atalanta won their second game in a row by defeating Sassuolo 2-1 at the Stadio di Bergamo. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side opened the scoring with only three minutes on the clock thanks to Robin Gosens, who netted his first league goal of the season after cashing in on Ruslan Malinovskiy’s pass from the right.
La Dea had a lot of scoring opportunities but were unable to make the most out of them. However, they managed to equalise a few minutes before half time thanks to Davide Zappacosta, who netted his first goal for the club since February 2015.
Sassuolo managed to pull one back just before the interval thanks to a fine goal from their talisman Domenico Berardi.
Both teams tried hard to find the net during the second half but were unable to do so and Atalanta managed to hold on to their lead and win the match.
? Prima da titolare per Teun! ?? Questi i nostri 11!
⚡️ First start for #Koopmeiners! ? Here’s our line-up!Presented by @Plus500#AtalantaSassuolo #SerieATIM #GoAtalantaGo ⚫️? pic.twitter.com/a3bMFWRTIA
— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) September 21, 2021
Gian Piero Gasperini made five changes from Atalanta’s victory against Salernitana. Jose Luis Palomino was replaced by Berat Djimsiti while Davide Zappacosta started in place of Joakim Maehle.
The Dutch duo of Maarten de Roon and Teun Koopmeiners started in central midfield in place of Remo Freuler and Mario Pasalic. Matteo Pessina was back in the starting XI at the expense of Aleksei Miranchuk.
Sassuolo also made a number of changes to their playing XI with only five players from their defeat to Torino starting today. Barring Gian Marco Ferrari, all of the Neroverdi’s defenders from their previous game were benched. Instead, Mert Muldur, Kaan Ayhan, and Giorgos Kyriakopoulos started.
Francesco Magnanelli was back in the playing XI, as were Hamed Traore and Gregoire Defrel.
? #AtalantaSassuolo: neroverdi in campo così ⤵️
(4-2-3-1) Consigli; Muldur, Ayhan, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos; Frattesi, Magnanelli; Berardi, Traore, Boga; Defrel#ForzaSasol ??? @eToroItalia pic.twitter.com/sXD4dY4QJV
— U.S. Sassuolo (@SassuoloUS) September 21, 2021
Atalanta had a brilliant start to the game with Gosens scoring his second goal of the season after making the most out of Malinovskiy’s pass. Sassuolo had a very good chance to equalize when Defrel was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. However, the Frenchman’s shot was way off-target.
The Bergamo outfit kept attacking persistently with Malinovskiy, Pessina and Zapata all having chances to find the net. However, they were unable to do so.
Atalanta eventually doubled their lead thanks to a wonderful team move involving Malinovskiy and Koopmeiners before Zapata passed to Zappacosta whose right-footed shot found the net.
Just before the end of the first half, Berardi found the net with a wonderful left-footed shot from distance.
#AtalantaSassuolo | 2-1 | HALF-TIME
⏸️ In vantaggio dopo un bel primo tempo!
? We lead after a good first half!@Plus500 #SerieATIM #GoAtalantaGo ⚫? pic.twitter.com/vBNRYH8KGB— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) September 21, 2021
The second half started with Magnanelli fouling Malinovskiy but nothing came from the ensuing free-kick. The Ukrainian was later subbed off for Josip Ilicic and he made an instant impact just after coming on, coming close to extending Atalanta’s lead. The Slovenian kept troubling the Sassuolo defence but the score remained 2-1.
The Neroverdi however, did not hold back and tried to attack but nothing could come from it. Both sides made a number of substitutions during the second half with Atalanta bringing on Roberto Piccoli who tried to find the net a few times.
Ultimately, no goals were scored in the second half and La Dea won 2-1 to register their third league win of the season.
MATCH SCORECARD
September 21, 2021 – Serie A 2021-2022 Round 5
ATALANTA 2-1 SASSUOLO
SCORERS: 3′ Gosens (A), 37′ Zappacosta (A), 44′ Berardi (S)
ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Musso, Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti, Zappacosta (69′ Maehle), De Roon, Koopmeiners, Gosens (69′ Pezzella), Pessina (84′ Pasalic), Malinovskiy (63′ Ilicic), Zapata (84′ Piccoli) (Palomino, Freuler, Rossi, Scalvini, Sportiello, Miranchuk, Lovato) COACH: Gasperini
SASSUOLO (4-1-4-1): Consigli, Muldur, Ayhan, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos, Magnanelli (60′ Harroui), Berardi, Frattesi (82′ Lopez), Traore (67′ Duricic), Boga (82′ Raspadori), Defrel (82′ Scamacca) COACH: Dionisi
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Malinovskiy (A), Ferrari (A)