Atalanta stopped at eleven consecutive victories in the Italian Championship, but retained its first place by snatching a draw against Lazio (1-1), Saturday during the 18th day.
Atalanta almost ended its historic year 2024 with a defeat: while it has not lost since September 24, the “Dea” – winner of the Europa League last May, the second title in its long history – has long suffered the law of Lazio at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Perfectly launched in the axis by the Argentinian Taty Castellanos, the Nigerian Fisayo Dele-Bashiru opened the scoring in the 27th minute. But Atalanta woke up in the second half and logically equalized in the 88th minute thanks to Marco Brescianini, who entered shortly before.
Atalanta remains in the lead with its 41 points, one more than Inter Milan who dislodged it from the leader’s chair for three hours.
After a lackluster first period, the reigning Italian champion – with Yann Sommer in goal – disgusted Cagliari (0-3) and scored a fifth victory in a row by scoring three goals in the second half, including the first in almost two months of Lautaro Martinez.
“We had to work hard to win against a team that had no complexes. This victory closes a memorable year 2024 with the conquest of the second star for the twentieth championship title, rejoiced Simone Inzaghi.
Inter and Atalanta, neck and neck in the league, will face each other in less than a week, on January 2, in Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup.
In their absence, Naples – 3rd, three points behind Atalanta – can take back control of the championship and even take off. On condition of beating Venice on Sunday at home and winning at Fiorentina the following weekend.
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