by our correspondent Matteo Brega
November 10, 2024 (changed at 2.59pm) – BERGAMO
Atalanta came from behind to beat Udinese 2-1 and for a few hours enjoyed the top spot in the league tied with Napoli (same points, but direct comparison in favor of the Bergamo side). After Kamara’s lead at the end of the first half, the goals arrived which changed the fate at the dawn of the second half. First Pasalic and then an own goal from Touré brought Gian Piero Gasperini his sixth consecutive victory in the championship.
Udine solidity
—
Ederson starts from the bench and Pasalic plays in the middle alongside record holder De Roon (282 appearances in Serie A with Atalanta, no one like him in the history of the club). Without De Ketelaere, Samardzic plays from the 1st minute together with Lookman and Retegui. Runjaic chooses Thauvin and Davis up front to attempt the feat, Payero and Lovric the midfielders. The VAR lets Hien’s hand pass on a throw-in, no penalty. In the 5th minute Bergamo’s first attempt: Samardzic’s corner (booed by his former fans), Retegui’s header high. Between the 7th and 8th minute the match heats up. First, Okoye instinctively did well to block Pasalic’s cross-shot which Ruggeri just missed. On the reversal Lovric arrives in front of Carnesecchi who rejects and who is also good at saying no to Davis’ next attempt. At 13′ Dea takes the lead: cross from Zappacosta, Ruggeri shoots from the opposite side, Okoye blocks, Retegui tries again with a sure shot with his head and finds the back of Lookman who wrong-foots the Friulian goalkeeper. But the Nigerian is offside and signals Di Bello to the referee who disallows the goal. It remains at 0-0. Udinese found themselves with a colossal opportunity in the 18th minute. The doubling on Davis in the middle of the pitch allows Thauvin to have space when he is launched: the Frenchman comes in from the left and hits the crossbar with a precise right-footed shot. Thauvin himself in the 22nd minute causes another danger for the Dea: left foot from the edge, Carnesecchi has to stretch out to deflect it for a corner. Djimsiti gets the worst of it as in trying to close on Udinese’s 10 he leaves his right ankle under his opponent’s body and has to leave the pitch due to a sprain. In the 25th minute Ederson comes on and Gasperini goes four behind (4-2-3-1). One minute and a goal is disallowed for Udinese too. On the throw-in Davis pushes De Roon to free himself and shoot into the net. Di Bello’s whistle was immediate. In the 34th minute the Friulians almost scored a historic own goal: Bijol, in order to close on Zappacosta’s diagonal, ended up returning it towards Kamara and the ball skidded out of the goal for a very short time. During the first minute of injury time, Kossounou headed a corner from Samardzic, Okoye blocked it and the defense cleared the area. Zappacosta also gets hurt and the consequences are terrible for Atalanta. In the third of injury time he cannot chase Kamara on the left, Udinese’s number 11 has plenty of time to stop, look and calibrate a powerful left-footed shot which Carnesecchi can do nothing about. Thanks to this wonderful goal, a first half played very well by Runjaic’s team ends 1-0 for the Friulians.
The entire Enilive Serie A is only on DAZN. Watch all the matches
five minutes from atalanta
—
We start again with the new Bellanova in place of Zappacosta (muscle strain in the left calf). Atalanta started with the desire to do better than the first half but around the 6th minute Thauvin had two good opportunities. First with a left-footed shot from the edge, with Carnesecchi blocking, and then with a lob towards the free goal that ends up just wide. In the 11th minute, Atalanta’s first worthy action led the Bergamo players to the goal. Seven passes in a row and the Dea scores: it starts on the right with Carnesecchi, then it is touched by Ederson, Pasalic, Samardzic, Bellanova and finally Pasalic who served on the run and finds a penalty in motion for the 1-1. Zarraga comes on in place of Lovric to fuel Udinese’s resistance in the midfield. At 15′ there is the overtaking: low cross from Bellanova and Touré slides past Okoye who was coming out. In the 22nd minute Kamara and Thauvin come out for Zemura and Lucca. A minute later Brescianini and Zaniolo come on for Samardzic and Retegui. Karlstrom tries from the edge in the 24th minute, high ball. In the 28th minute there was a Lookman-Zaniolo-Lookman exchange, the Nigerian flew to the left, crossed for Brescianini who controlled well and kicked badly. Runjaic also brings in Abankwah and Bravo in place of Giannetti and Davis. 3′ from the 90th minute, Zaniolo leaves – after twenty minutes on the pitch he felt discomfort in his left groin region – and Cuadrado takes his place. Atalanta ends up with Pasalic as center forward. And it ends like this too, with the 2-1 which is worth the provisional first place at the top of the Serie A table.
