Atalanta’s second half of the Serie A season starts with a victory, as the Nerazzurri beat Sampdoria 2-0 at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo on matchday 20 of the 2022-2023 Serie A TIM, with Mæhle and Lookman being the scorers.
MÆHLE FINDS THE BREAKTHROUGH The first chances of the game came off the visitors, as in the 9th minute Musso was forced into saves by Gabbiadini’s angled drive from a tricky angle and then by Augello. On 15 minutes Boga whipped a cross to the back post for Hateboer, who came sliding in but turned over. Sampdoria threatened again in the 20th minute, this time through Leris, who acrobatically fired inches over. Højlund managed to get a shot away after twisting and turning seven minutes later and forced another save off Audero. At the half-hour mark, another Højlund ferocious strike was beaten away by the visiting goalkeeper. Atalanta started piling on the pressure, which paid off in the 42nd minute after an insisted team move: Lookman’s header first thumped the post, then Hateboer crossed to the back post for Mæhle’s header that broke the deadlock. This was the Danish wingback’s second goal in a row after the net against Juventus.
LOOKMAN SCORES AGAIN Lookman doubled Atalanta’s lead in the 57th minute with a beauty after he nutmegged a defender, sprinted forward, feinted a shot to undermine Nuytinck and smashed an angled drive into the far bottom corner to beat Audero. A few minutes later, Boga hit a long-range rocket that was inches wide and Højlund’s strike was saved. At that point, the Nerazzurri were well in control of their two-goal lead and the match at the Gewiss Stadium ended 2-0. Thanks to this victory, Atalanta are now on 38 points in the standings. Gasperini’s men will be back at work tomorrow, Sunday 29 January, with a morning training session taking place at the Centro Bortolotti to start preparing for the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa fixture against Inter.
ATALANTA 2-0 SAMPDORIA
Scorers: Mæhle 42 (A), Lookman 57 (A).
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Djimsiti, Scalvini, Hateboer, de Roon, Koopmeiners, Mæhle (Ruggeri 67), Lookman (Muriel 82), Højlund (Zapata 67), Boga (Pašalić 67). Unused bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Okoli, Éderson, Zortea, Vorlický, Demiral, Soppy. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Sampdoria: Audero, Amione, Nuytinck (Vieira 80), Murru, Leris, Winks, Rincon (Paoletti 62), Augello, Djuricic (Zanoli 59), Gabbiadini (Malagrida 80), Lammers (Quagliarella 80). Unused bench: Turk, Ravaglia, Murillo, Yepes, Murru. Coach: Dejan Stankovic.
Referee: Daniele Doveri from Roma 1.
Assistant referees: Niccolò Pagliardini from Arezzo and Gaetano Massara from Reggio Calabria.
Fourth official: Matteo Gariglio from Pinerolo.
V.A.R.: Federico La Penna from Roma 1.
A.V.A.R.: Gianluca Manganiello from Pinerolo.
Notes: Malagrida (S), Leris (S) booked.
