2021 starts in the best way for Atalanta with a nice victory over Sassuolo. On the 2020/21 Serie A TIM matchday 15 at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, the Nerazzurri win 5-1 over the visitors.
It was an eventful match as the two teams were on fire. The first chance of the game was for Sassuolo in the opening minutes when Muldur fired off target and didn’t manage to beat an on-rushing Gollini. Another finish from the visitors with Kyriakopoulos was parried by the Nerazzurri goalkeeper. On 11 Zapata broke the deadlock by firing a right footed shot into the bottom corner. Then, on 18, Pessina got dangerous and also Iličić had two attempts off target, while Hateboer and Palomino had two more chances to double in between. The double arrived on 45, as Pessina scored his first goal of the season on a wonderful Iličić cross.
In the second half, the Nerazzurri immediately scored the third: on 49 a Freuler back-heel flick found Zapata, who came sliding in to beat Consigli by sending his shot into the roof of the net to score a brace. Gosens scored the fourth by making his way through the middle of the box and firing his right-foot shot into the net. The fifth came on 68: another Freuler assist, this time for Muriel, who had no problems in beating Consigli. Sassuolo pulled one back on 75 through Chiriches and 5-1 was the final result.
ATALANTA 5-1 SASSUOLO
Scorers: Zapata 11 (A), Pessina 45 (A), Zapata 49 (A), Gosens 57 (A), Muriel 67 (A), Chiriches 75 (S)
Atalanta: Gollini, Djimsiti (Depoali 77), Romero, Palomino, Hateboer, de Roon, Freuler, Gosens (Ruggeri 77), Pessina (Malinovskyi 63), Iličić (Muriel 63), Zapata (Miranchuk 84). Bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Šutalo, Lammers, Caldara, Mojica, Miranchuk. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Sassuolo: Consigli, Muldur, Chiriches, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos, Locatelli, Lopez (Obiang 56), Berardi (Raspadori 83), Traore (Haraslin 84), Boga (Bourabia 68), Caputo (Defrel 56). Bench: Pegolo, Magnanelli, Ayhan, Rogerio, Peluso, Toljan, Schiappacasse. Coach: Roberto De Zerbi.
Referee: Fabio Maresca from Naples.
Assistant: Valentino Fiorito from Salerno and Valerio Vecchi from Lamezia Terme.
Fourth official: Marco Piccinini from Forlì.
V.A.R.: Massimiliano Irrati from Pistoia.
A.V.A.R.: Giorgio Peretti from Verona.
Notes: Hateboer (A), Romero (A), de Roon (A), Chiriches (S) booked.
