Ligurian advantage with Gyasi, then goals by De Roon, Zappacosta and Muriel overturn everything. Bourabia reopens it, but that’s not enough. Final chills with Green’s crossbar
May 3 – Bergamo
For Atalanta a victory from Europe, if it will be seen from the Champions League: it certainly puts a bit of pressure on Inter, Milan and Roma, at least for a while they are overtaken in fourth place, with the third consecutive victory, which Gasperini’s team been missing since September. For Spezia, a defeat that hurts, makes the path to salvation critical, but at the same time comforts: Semplici’s team is alive, does not collapse when it is about to do so, comeback from 1-0 to 3-1 and many times on the verge of 4-1, but rather crushes the Goddess, who without the knockout risked that of the sensational 3-3, when in the 42nd minute Green made the crossbar tremble.
The choices
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Gasperini limits the turnover to the maximum: only Ederson is resting, not the other two who are warned, namely Maehle and Zappacosta. So Koopmeiners alongside De Roon, with Pasalic on the frontline and double Colombian centre-forward: the coach’s first choice was for the “heavy” tandem, with the Zapata-Hojlund duo, but the Dane suffered a little annoyance in the warm-up and as a precaution remained on the bench, giving way to Muriel. Semplici brings Ampadu back to the middle of the field, so he chooses Wisniewski together with Nikolau behind; bench for the cautioned Ekdal, Bastoni plays the midfielder and Agudelo advances up front with Gyasi and Shomurodov.
First half
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It soon became clear that Atalanta’s match was not going to be a walk in the park, because the problems already encountered by the Nerazzurri against compact and orderly teams, who wait and restart, immediately emerged: lack of quality in the last few games, a few too many lost balls, difficulty in the dialogue with the tips, a little distracted and often on the ground (wrong shoes?) Muriel, less overbearing than Sabato Zapata. The only danger – so to speak – was an attempt by Toloi on a grazing aimed at the near post and deflected by a defender, but a minute later, on 18′, a scene already seen many times. Ball lost in midfield by Maehle, who also slipped, and on the Scalvini-Shomurodov tackle the rebound favors Bastoni, who “passes” on Toloi and sets up the hole for Gyasi’s 2nd league goal. Everything to be redone, indeed to be done, for Atalanta. However, compared to other occasions, he found the equalizer soon enough, after a header attempt by Zapata and a great save on the line by Dragowski, to block a header from Toloi: in the 32nd minute, taking advantage of an inactive ball (Koopmeiners’ corner), the 1-1 comes with a wonderful blow from 25 meters by De Roon, to collect a header from Wisniewski. From then on it was almost only Atalanta, but without concrete chances to take the lead before the break.
Second half
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It’s another Atalanta that returns to the field after the break and in just 7′, between 3′ and 9′ it seems to put the victory in the fridge. First with another great shot from distance by Zappacosta, following a clearance by Wisniewski following a pinball machine in the area after yet another corner; then with Muriel’s 100th goal in Serie A, which takes advantage of an assist from Djimsiti, still on the developments of a corner kick. It seems done, also because the Nerazzurri don’t take their foot off the accelerator and come close to 4-1 again with Zappacosta, with a diving header, held back only by a combined Dragowski-crossbar action. There the thrust of the Goddess runs out and in the 19th minute a lightness from Toloi gives Shomurodov the opportunity of an assist for the onrushing player that Bourabia exploits with a great blow in the running. From then on it was almost only Spezia, who “saw” the 3-3 with Wisniewski, an Agudelo-Shomurodov restart that faded in extremis and above all the blow from Verde. For Spezia it is the 16th defeat in the league, the third in the last four games: the next match against Cremonese becomes a fundamental crossroads, but perhaps with a little more confidence.
May 3, 2023 (change May 3, 2023 | 23:09)
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