Last Saturday marked the Atalanta For Special’s official debut as the Nerazzurri attended the 2nd edition of the Equalgame Tournament, the contest jointly endorsed by Accademia Isola Bergamasca and Inter and reserved for people with physical and/or mental impairments, held in Chignolo d’Isola.
Among the participating teams were AIB, Atalanta, Cagliari, Inter, Milan and Parma.
Atalanta for Special, with coach Gianmarco Lesmo at the helm and accompanied by Luca Pala and Gioachino Marconi, played two “B-tier” matches against Cagliari and Inter respectively.
As for the former, a morning kick-off awaited the Nerazzurri, who took the lead with Ulisse Pezzotti after a great start despite the many yet unexploited chances. Nonetheless, after scoring the equaliser before half-time, Cagliari managed to turn the match around in the second half with a counter. Unfortunately, despite the many chances created after conceding the goal, the black-and-blue forcing in the closing minutes did not pan out as the Casteddu imposed themselves 2-1.
Not only did the lunch break at the Chignolo Oratory allow our players to unwind and regain strength, but it also served as an impromptu de-briefing on the morning match.
The afternoon gave way to a fully-fledged black-and-blue derby as Atalanta sparred with Inter: after a rather speculative start, Atalanta for Special pulled out all the stops with Francesco Pezzotti’s brace to bring the Orobic team 2-0 up at halftime.
In the second half a ravening Atalanta side kicked things up a notch clinching a 5-1 walkover with single goals by Mateo Virgillito, Mirko Bernini and with Francesco Pezzotti’s third of the game in between. Eventually, Inter found the consolation goal in the closing minutes with a free kick. Aside from the outcome, both teams went all out bringing about a very levelled game from start to finish.
After the budding participation in the 2nd Equalgame Tournament, preparations for Atalanta For Special’s official league debut are already underway: save the date for Saturday the 28th of October.
