Atalanta picked up a 2-1 victory over Zdenek Zeman’s Cagliari in Serie A action on Sunday afternoon in Sardinia.
The visitors grabbed a tw0-goal lead due to an early goal by Marcelo Estigarribia and Richmond Boakye halfway through the second period, while Andrea Cossu gave the home team a chance for a point with a late goal from the penalty spot.
The first goal came from a deep run by Boukary Drame in Cagliari’s half. The left-back sent a cross across the goal toward the far post, where Estigarribia was best positioned to give the Bergamo team a 1-0 lead.
After several half-chances for the two teams and a Cagliari goal ruled off justly due to an offside decision, Atalanta was close to increase their advantage after 34 minutes. Denis found Drame on the left and the Senegalese sent another dangerous cross across the goal. Estigarribia was again waiting at the far post, but this time a defender got to the ball first and prevented the former Juventus man to grab his second goal.
Cagliari had a dangerous attack on the right shortly after. The initial cross could not find any of the two forwards in the penalty area, but Albin Ekdal managed to retain possession for the Sardinian side. He found Danilo Avelar, who took a shot from the edge of the penalty area, but after a deflection by a defender the ball ended up just above the crossbar of Marco Sportiello’s goal. An even bigger threat came from the following corner through Diego Farias. The Brazillian advanced in the penalty area and tested the young goalkeeper with a ground shot, but Sportiello dove to the left and held comfortably.
Ten minutes into the second half Farias missed a great opportunity to even up the scoreboard. He received a pass from Andrea Cossu in close proximity to Atalanta’s goal, but couldn’t beat Sportiello with his left-footed shot.
Cagliari’s pressure led to another opportunity after 65 minutes. A ball was sent by Viktor Ibarbo toward Marco Sau deep into Atalanta’s penalty area. Sau beat the oncoming Sportiello and send a sliding shot on goal, but Giuseppe Biava recovered to clear the ball off the line.
The home team paid for the miss only moments after. Substitute Daniele Dessena dispossessed a ball in midfield and gave a chance for Richmond Boakye to advance undisturbed and place a shot from distance into the left corner of Simone Colombo’s goal to double Atalanta’s lead.
The home team had protests for a penalty after 72 minutes after an apparent contact between Sportiello and Ibarbo followed the Colombian going to the ground. All that came out of the situation, however, was a yellow card for Cagliari’s forward.
With less than 10 minutes left on the clock, Antonio Balzano sent a decent cross from the right and found Avelar, whose header was disappointingly inaccurate.
After 85 minutes, Ibarbo was again the center of attention in the visitors’ penalty area, where he was taken down with a hard tackle by Nicolo Cherubin. This time, a penalty was awarded and it was calmly converted by Cossu.
The Rossoblu had a fantastic opportunity for an equaliser through Dessena. After a free kick in proximity to Atalanta’s goal, he was left unmarked in the six-yard box, but he could not beat Sportiello and redeem himself for his earlier mistake.
While frustration was building up for the home team, the only real opportunity for the rest of the match came from Atalanta’s German Denis. The veteran tested Colombo with a finesse shot toward the top corner, but Cagliari’s goalkeeper was on his toes and tipped away for a corner kick.
