For almost one hour, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta dreamed of maintaining their top spot in the Serie A table as they built a double lead over Udinese on Sunday. But Andrea Sottil’s Friulani are not easy to submit this season and they promptly put themselves back on track. They even went close to score a third one during stoppage time but ultimately had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Atalanta will lose their Serie A lead if Napoli beat Cremonese later today, while Udinese were reached by Milan in the third place. However, both sides confirmed their ambitions as they gave life to an entertaining football afternoon at the Dacia Arena.
Gasperini lined up his side in a 3-4-1-2 fashion with Caleb Okoli, Merih Demiral, and Giorgio Scalvini to form the back-three package while Mario Pasalic was tasked with igniting the offensive duo consisting of Luis Muriel and the up-and-coming Ademola Lookman.
Andrea Sottil had a hole at the back Rodrigo Becao was missing due to injury and replaced him with Enzo Ebosse. For the rest, the Friulani‘s setup was the usual one with Beto and Gerard Deulofeu spearheading the attack.
Atalanta put themselves in the driving seat on 36 minutes as Teun Koopmeiners found Muriel with a brilliant pass. The Colombian’s cutting cross was well received by Lookman, who found the back of the net besting Destiny Udogie in the process.
The Bergamaschi kept attacking and should have had their second before half time, but Marco Silvestri somehow managed to push back a dangerous Koopmeiners free kick.
Still, it didn’t take much for the visitors to double their lead. Ten minutes after the restart, Udogie pushed down Muriel in the box, offering him a chance to score his 12th career goal (!) against Udinese. It was not the best day for the Tottenham-bound talent as Muriel made no mistake from the spot.
Twelve minutes later, a magnificent Deulofeu free kick gave new hopes to the Friulani. The Spaniard scored his first seasonal goal as Atalanta conceded one away for the first time this campaign.
Udinese’s comeback was complete on 78 minutes as Nehuen Perez headed home a Roberto Pereyra cross. Late in the game, Tolgay Arslan also had a chance to put the Friulani ahead but missed the target with his last-gasp shot. That would have been too much as a tie looked indeed like a fair outcome.
MATCH SCORECARD
October 9, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 9
UDINESE – ATALANTA 2-2
SCORERS: 36′ Lookman (A), 56′ rig. Muriel (A), 67′ Deulofeu (U), 78′ Perez (U)
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UDINESE (3-5-2): Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Ebosse; Pereyra (86′ Ehizibue), Lovric (60′ Arslan), Walace, Makengo (59′ Samardzic), Udogie; Beto (65′ Success), Deulofeu (Padelli, Piana, Ebosele, Jajalo, Abankwah, Nuytinck, Nestorovski, Semedo, Guessand) Coach: Sottil |
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ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Sportiello; Okoli, Demiral, Scalvini (87′ Ruggeri); Hateboer, Koopmeiners, De Roon, Maehle (79′ Soppy); Pasalic (79′ Ederson); Lookman (66′ Malinovskyi), Muriel (65′ Hojlund) (Rossi, Bertini, Boga, Zortea) Coach: Gasperini |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Bijol (U), Demiral (A), Lookman (A), Ebosse (U), Hateboer (A); Added Time: 1st Half 2′, 2nd Half 3′
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