Atalanta temporarily climb back into Serie A’s top four after their 3-1 win over Spezia at the Gewiss Stadium on Friday evening.
Mario Pasalic scored twice in the second half, either side of a fine Luis Muriel strike to help La Dea on their way.
Chances were few and far between in the first half, but both sides could have taken the lead with each having at least one big chance.
Mario Pasalic headed wide for Atalanta, but their best chance fell the way of Josip Ilicic. Jeroen Zoet found himself in no man’s land when he played a poor ball out that was lost, but Martin Erlic did excellently to block with his head as Ilicic looked to lift a shot into a near-empty goal.
Matteo Ricci forced a fine save out of Marco Sportiello at the other end. Found by a sublime Daniele Verde through ball, his low effort was smartly saved by the Atalanta goalkeeper.
La Dea tend to be dangerous in the minutes either side of half time and so it proved again as they scored twice within ten minutes of the restart. Ilicic and Joakim Maehle combined to tee up Mario Pasalic for the first, with the Croatian composing himself and taking his time before finishing easily.
Luis Muriel made it two just moments later. Robin Gosens headed down to the Colombian who took a touch to set himself up before curling perfectly into Zoet’s top corner.
Muriel was replaced by compatriot Duvan Zapata who didn’t take long to get involved. Having had a cross headed over by Gosens, he played a perfect ball into Pasalic’s path and the No.88 kept his cool to slot in his second.
Atalanta’s own young forward Roberto Piccoli, on loan at Spezia, came off the bench and scored past his parent club with his first touch.
The win leaves Atalanta in fourth place on 52 points, but Roma can again leapfrog them with a win at Parma on Sunday.
