Atalanta’s home match against Udinese, which was the 25th round of the 2022-2023 Serie A TIM, culminated in a goalless draw at the end of a hard-fought match.
Both teams played the first half at a high tempo and with great intensity. The first proper chance came in the 17th minute, as Beto sparked Udinese’s counterattack and Lovric fired wide. On 27 minutes, Beto took advantage of a poor back-pass but Musso came to the rescue by rushing out of his box thus denying the Udinese striker one-on-one. Atalanta had a go in the 36th minute with a Højlund effort from close range that went inches wide. Before limping off the pitch and being replaced by Éderson, Koopmeiners hit a daisy cutter from distance that was smothered by Silvestri.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Éderson himself fired a shot from the edge of the area that stung Silvestri’s gloves. Gasperini’s men started piling on the pressure; Lookman had two shots on goal in a span of two minutes, with the former attempt parried by Silvestri’s feet on 57 minutes and the latter ending inches wide of the post. Ruggeri also gave it a whirl but Silvestri was once again alert (Toloi was offside in the build-up though). In search of a breakthrough, Gasperini subbed Muriel and Pašalić on, and it was Atalanta’s no. 88 who immediately threatened with a shot at goal that Becao blocked on 64 minutes. Thauvin forced a diving save off Musso in the 75th minute and Pašalić’s attempt was slightly deflected for a corner. In the 90th minute, Silvestri came to the rescue to secure a goalless draw, as he denied Toloi.
ATALANTA 0-0 UDINESE
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti, Mæhle, de Roon, Koopmeiners (Éderson 41), Ruggeri, Boga (Pašalić 63), Lookman (Muriel 63), Højlund (Vorlický 91). Bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Okoli, Soppy. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Udinese: Silvestri, Becao, Bijol, Perez, Ebosele (Masina 78), Lovric (Samardzic 78), Walace, Arslan (Pereyra 59), Udogie, Success (Thauvin 65), Beto. Bench: Padelli, Piana, Abankwah, Buta, Pafundi. Coach: Andrea Sottil.
Referee: Davide Ghersini from Genoa.
Assistant referees: Damiano Di Iorio from Vco and Marcello Rossi from Biella.
Fourth official: Alberto Santoro from Messina.
V.A.R.: Maurizio Mariani from Aprilia.
A.V.A.R.: Luca Massimi from Termoli.
Notes: Lovric (U), Becao (U), Éderson (A), Djimsiti (A) and Ebosele (U) booked.
