Atalanta dropped yet more points on Wednesday afternoon as they drew 1-1 away to Udinese, in their rearranged Round 10 fixture.
This following a goalless draw at home to Genoa over the weekend, Papu Gomez’s continued absence is being increasingly felt by Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
Atalanta hadn’t even touched the ball by the time they fell behind, with Roberto Pereyra putting the Zebrette ahead with just 24 seconds played. Udinese simply ran down their right wing, before Pereyra was invited to cut inside through some poor Cristian Romero defending, allowing him to approach goal and poke through Pierluigi Gollini’s legs.
That set the tempo for the rest of the first half, with Udinese sitting back and inviting La Dea on. Much like against Genoa, though, Atalanta struggled to break them down.
Luis Muriel fired over from a freekick, Joakim Maehle had a shot tipped over from Juan Musso, and Rafael Toloi had his own effort stopped by the Udinese ‘keeper.
But on the stroke of half time, Muriel levelled. Taking the ball outside of the area, the Colombian mazed his way through the Zebrette defence before poking an effort over Musso.
Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic’s introductions in the second half saw Atalanta step things up, and they immediately looked to cause problems for the hosts, with the Colombian getting in behind to win a corner. From there, Ruslan Malinovskyi had his cross-cum-shot headed clear off the line.
Romero was next to go close, heading wide of Musso’s goal.
Atalanta stayed on top and looked to find a way through Udinese’s stubborn backline, but the Friulani stood firm and got over the line to claim a point.
