Atalanta and Udinese drew 1-1 at the Stadio Atleti Azzuri d’Italia after German Denis’ penalty cancelled out Luis Murial’s opener.
The home side headed into this fixture with only one win in five matches in Serie A while Udinese were unbeaten in their last three league games. A win for Atalanta would see them move above the Zebrette, who sat ninth in the league standings ahead of kick-off. A win for Udinese would put them eight ahead of Catania.
Both teams got stuck into this match from the first whistle, in front of a lively atmosphere and Udinese’s Brazilian defender Danilo received the game’s first yellow card after just eight minutes.
After an early period of pressure from the home side the game evened out and first real chance didn’t arrive until the 26th minute. Udinese’s Serbian wing-back Dusan Basta received the ball on the right flank and managed to get the bye line after some nice skill but his low, driven cross couldn’t pick out a teammate in the middle.
That attack spured Atalanta and they went immediately up the other end and won a corner. From the resulting set piece a shot from the edge of the penatly area seemed to strike Giampiero Pinzi on the hand but the referee waved away the home side’s protests.
After 34 minutes the deadlock was broken and slightly against the run of play. Giovanni Pasquale’s left wing cross evaded the Atalanta defenders and Muriel acrobatically volleyed in his first goal of the season from six yards to make it 1-0.
Just six minutes later and Atalanta equalised from the penalty spot through Denis. Maurizio Domizzi was penalised for a foul on Federico Peluso following a corner kick, although it seemed a harsh decision on seeing the replays as players from both teams were holding each other. Denis stepped up and coolly converted the sport kick for his seventh goal of the season, sending Zeljko Brkic the wrong way to make it 1-1.
After the break both teams had a series of shots blocked and saved, the best of these chances falling to Atalanta’s Giuseppe De Luca who had an effort well saved after 48 minutes then headed over from close range ten minutes later.
As the half wore on the game began to take a sour note and substitute Maximiliano Moralez was booked for simulation trying to win his side another penalty. Just moments later Pinzi tried to get the Argentine a second booking by feigning injury but the referee was wise to the deceit.
Even the introduction of Antonio Di Natale, who wasn’t fit enough to start the game, couldn’t spark Udinese into life and Francesco Guidolin’s men seemed content to sit back and play for a ninth draw of the campaign.
With 15 minutes remaining Atalanta almost took the lead. A freekick by Luca Cigarini was met by Guglielmo Stendardo but his header just went wide of Brkic’s goal.
Chances were few and far between in the second half and the final minutes passed with neither side able to put pressure of their opposition goalkeepers leaving the game even at full-time. Both teams are likely to be content with a point each as niether did enough to merit three.
Follow Michael Clarkson on Twitter: @M_Clarkson
