Atalanta defeated already-relegated Parma 5-2 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Ruslan Malinovskyi opened the scoring in the first half while Matteo Pessina and Luis Muriel extended La Dea’s lead. A second Muriel goal was sandwiched between consolation goals from Juan Brunetta as well as Simon Sohm, and Aleksej Miranchuk put the icing on the cake for the Bergamaschi.
La Dea dominated the first half and perhaps should have been leading by more than a goal. Duvan Zapata had a chance to score in the first minute but he decided to pass the ball across goal and it went straight to the Ducali defence.
Malinovskyi gave Atalanta the lead in the 12th minute after he controlled a pass from Josip Ilicic and beat Luigi Sepe in the Parma goal with a low and powerful shot from his left foot. The Crociati goalkeeper then had difficulty collecting an Ilicic cross and he needed two attempts to adequately do so.
Remo Freuler tried his luck from long range but his shot went straight at Sepe and then Zapata came close to finishing a great team move but his shot hit the crossbar.
Muriel and Pessina came on as substitutes for the second half and the Colombian striker supplied the pass for the Italian midfielder to score with an angled drive after 52 minutes.
La Dea had more chances to extend the lead and they finally did so in the 77th minute. Miranchuk passed to Mario Pasalic, who deflected the ball into the path of Muriel, who controlled the ball and smashed it into the net.
Parma pulled one back two minutes later when Maxime Busi shrugged off Joakim Maehle, and passed to Brunetta, who was unmarked and beat Marco Sportiello in the Atalanta goal.
Pessina hit the post with one shot but Muriel knocked in the rebound after 86 minutes while Sohm ran onto a Graziano Pelle through-ball dribbled around Sportiello to put the score back to 4-2.
Pasalic tried to score himself, but after Sepe saved his shot, Miranchuk made it 5-2 in stoppage time with the rebound.
The win allows Atalanta to move back into second place above Napoli, and three points clear of Juventus and AC Milan who meet later on Sunday evening.
