Atalanta shocked Palermo with a 2-3 victory at the Stadio Renzo Barbera on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Two early goals from the visitors from Daniele Baselli and an own goal by Sinisa Andelkovic put the Nerazzurri in to a two goal lead, before Franco Vazquez netted a goal at the end of the half but Alejandro Gomez scored a third for the visitors. Luca Rigoni’s goal to make it 2-3 was not enough, as Andrea Belotti had missed a penalty kick earlier, to crush any chances for the home side to win points in the match.
The visitors started the match on a high note and opened the scoring in the fifth minute of the match, after a fantastic lay off from Mauricio Pinilla to Baselli, who comfortably scored against a diving Ujkani.
And it got worse for the Rosanero in the 17th minute, when Alejandro Gomez’ corner kick was headed in goal by the home side’s Andelkovic, underlining an awful start for Giuseppe Iachini’s men.
But that wasn’t enough for the visitors, who almost added a third after Gomez’ free kick hit the crossbar shortly after. Palermo’s first significant chance arrived in the 34th minute, when Rigoni’s header from close distance was cleared from the line by Atalanta defender Giuseppe Biava.
Substitute Quaison could have made an immediate impact after a great pass from Rigoni, but the youngster was denied by Avramov clear on goal.
But in the 43rd minute Palermo finally scored, after a fantastic job by Quaison, who sent a low cross in to the box which was deflected to Vazquez, who managed to direct his header in to the Atalanta net.
After an entertaining first half, the teams went in to the locker rooms with the visitors in a 1-2 lead. Five minutes in to the second half there was another goal-line clearance from Biava on a Rigoni header.
And Rigoni was sorry not to have scored that, because shortly after Gomez netted a goal off a low cross by D’Alessandro, sending La Dea in to a two-goal lead.
Atalanta goalkeeper Avramov then made a shocking error ,which lead to him fouling Vazquez and a red card for the Serbian goalkeeper, as well as a penalty for the home side. D’Alessandro was replaced by third choice goalkeeper Giorgio Frezzolini.
But Belotti couldn’t convert the penalty kick and hit the crossbar with a powerful shot.
In the 68th minute Rigoni scored Palermo’s second goal with a half-volley on Jajalo’s ball over the top to add drama the match.
The home side held possession and were determined to equalise, but did not seem bound to score the third, as the match was coming to an end.
In the end they didn’t manage to score and lost all three points to the Bergamo team, who now seem closer to safety than ever.
