Cesena and Atalanta played out a 2-2 draw at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi on Wednesday evening in Serie A.
Mauricio Pinilla gave Edy Reja’s men the lead before a Franco Brienza penalty and a Carlos Carbonero lob turned things round however Pinilla’s second, a spectacular bicycle kick, ensured things finished all-square.
Going into the game both sides were struggling at the wrong end of the table and badly needed points in their fight for survival, even more so the hosts who had already slid into the relegation zone.
In the opening stages of the the game the home side had more of the possession but it was La Dea who made slightly more of their time with the ball, forcing a shot on target and a corner early on.
Diminutive forwards Maximiliano Moralez and Alejandro Gomez were involved in the visitors’ early attacking play but a combination of alert Cesena defending and a save from Federico Agliardi kept them at bay.
The Cavallucci Marini got their first shot on target when a spectacular long-range effort from Davide Succi was saved by Marco Sportiello, however they were unable to capitalise on the resulting corner.
Following these early half-chances the game descended into continual fouling by both sides and despite Cesena midfielder Gaby Mudingayi conceding one of these fouls on the edge of his own penalty area, Carlos Carmona couldn’t hit the target with the resulting free-kick.
The first half finished 0-0 with the only marks in the referee’s notebook being bookings for Cesena’s Mudingayi and Carbonero.
Atalanta started the second half the brighter of the two sides and it proved so when they broke the deadlock on 50 minutes.
Poor defending in the home side’s penalty area led to goalkeeper Agliardi sliding out to claim the ball but he could only push it into the path of Pinilla who finished into the unguarded net to put his side 1-0 up.
Cesena almost hit back instantly when Succi found himself free in the penalty area a minute later but his shot went just wide of the left post.
In didn’t take long before the hosts were indeed level after Yohan Benalouane committed a foul in the penalty area for which he was booked, and Brienza converted the resulting penalty after 56 minutes to make the score 1-1.
Atalanta goalscorer Pinilla then forced a good save from Agliardi with a long range shot after 64 minutes but the 32-year-old was equal to the low, driven effort.
It was Domenico Di Carlo’s men however who got the next goal when Carbonero drove forward to the edge of the penalty area and beat Sportiello with an excellent lob on 70 minutes to complete the comeback.
On 77 minutes Moralez threatened again for the visitors, however he was only able to fire wide despite finding space in the penalty area.
Six minutes later La Dea found their equaliser in spectacular fashion when Pinilla perfectly executed an acrobatic bicycle kick to claim his second of the game.
The game finished 2-2 after an entertaining second half to see the sides share the points, but Cesena will feel they missed out on an opportunity to get three invaluable points.
