On matchday 22 of the 2020-2021 Serie A TIM season, at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari, Muriel scores a late winner to give Atalanta three very important points at the end of a hard-fought match: Cagliari are beaten 1-0.
The game started with Djimsiti who cleared from Joao Pedro to deflect the shot onto the post of his own goal after only two minutes. On 18 Gosens burst into the box but fired wide, then Djimsiti headed over the bar. It was an intense and choppy game, but there weren’t many chances in the first half. In the second half, Šutalo made a decisive block to deny Joao Pedro and minutes later Sportiello punched away Nandez’s angled drive. Gosens had an attempt on target on 78, but his finish was deflected by Godin. Then Zapata stroke the post on 83, and finally, on 90, Muriel scored a masterpiece of a goal: he dribbled past two defenders and fired in a right-foot rocket at the near post. The final minutes were thrilling: into the fourth minute of stoppage time, Cagliari were awarded a penalty for a collision between Rugani and de Roon, but the referee changed his mind after the V.A.R. review, as it was Rugani who kicked the Nerazzurri player, who had got his foot in the way first. It ended 0-1 at the Sardegna Arena.
CAGLIARI 0-1 ATALANTA
Scorers: Muriel 90
Cagliari: Cragno, Walukiewicz (Cerri 92), Rugani, Godin, Zappa, Nandez, Marin (Deiola 86), Lykogiannis, Nainggolan (Duncan 80), Joao Pedro, Simeone (Pavoletti 80). Bench: Aresti, Vicario, Tripaldelli, Calabresi, Tramoni, Asamoah, Pereiro, Carboni. Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco.
Atalanta: Sportiello, Djimsiti, Romero, Palomino, Šutalo (Mæhle 62), Pessina (de Roon 46), Feuler, Gosens, Pašalić (Miranchuk 46), Iličić (Muriel 69), Zapata (Malinovskyi 86). Bench: Rossi, Gollini, Lammers, Caldara, Kovalenko, Ruggeri. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Referee: Marco Piccinini from Forlì.
Assistants: Stefano Liberti from Pisa and Mauro Galetto from Rovigo.
Fourth official: Francesco Fourneau from Roma 1.
V.A.R.: Luigi Nasca from Bari.
A.V.A.R.: Rodolfo Di Vuolo from Castellammare di Stabia.
Notes: Walukiewicz (C), Rugani (C), Lykogiannis (C), Romero (A), Iličić (A), de Roon (A) booked
