Atalanta confirmed to be one of the best road teams in Serie A against Sampdoria. The contest could have slipped away due to an early goal. However, they quickly came back and masterfully saw the game out in the second half. The home club could not follow up a slump-busting over Spezia with a positive performance. The Nerazzurri bounced back after Udinese’s late equalizer Sunday.
The Bergamaschi created a couple of chances right away, but Sampdoria drew first blood against the run of play. Francesco Caputo took advantage of a terrible offside trap on a through ball by Morten Thorsby and put it past Juan Musso at the 10th minute.
It did not take long for Atalanta to equalize. Just four minutes late, Davide Zappacosta made up for his blunder on the other end. He escaped down the right flank, and found Duvan Zapata with a pinpoint cross. The ball was deflected by both the striker and Kristoffer Askildsen, beating Emil Audero. Instead, there were no doubts about the second goal. On another feed by the Italian fullback, the Colombian forward soared in the air and bested a pair of defenders for a well-directed header.
Atalanta relented after getting the lead, and Sampdoria tried to exploit it. Caputo found himself in the same situation as the first goal, but Musso denied him with a one-handed save this time.
La Dea expertly managed the game by continuing to attack and anesthetizing the pace. They risked only on a slide by Musso on a backward pass, but he reacted before Caputo could pounce. Josip Ilicic pulled the strings after subbing in. He took aim on a couple of occasions and ultimately rounded out the score in the final minute of the stoppage time with a lefty belter under the crossbar.