Thanks to captain Cortinovis’ double, coach Brambilla’s Primavera beat Roma and go through to the playoff semifinals. Atalanta defeat Roma 2-1 at the Stadio Ricci in Sassuolo in the 1st Round of the 2020-2021 Primavera 1 TIM “Trofeo Giacinti Facchetti” championship Final Stage.
The Nerazzurri got off to a great start and opened the scoring on 4 minutes: a splendid give-and-go between Gyabuaa and Cortinovis saw the captain send his finish into the bottom corner and give the Nerazzurri the lead. Roma responded to it, as Milanese forced a save from Dajcar in the 11th minute. Then Atalanta made a few attempts: Ghisleni’s left-foot shot was wide, Italeng nodded straight at the goalkeeper and Ghislandi hit the side netting. Cortinovis intercepted a threatening ball on 27 minutes and the last effort of the half came off Ghislandi, who was denied by Mastrantonio.
In the second half, the Nerazzurri threatened again with a quick combination but Mastrantonio got down low to save Sidibe’s finish. Milanese then fired over from a good spot on 63 minutes and the Nerazzurri immediately responded to it through Ghisleni’s left-foot curler, which skimmed the top corner. Roma equalized in the 68th minute through a volley from Zalewski but Atalanta got the chance to get back into the lead on 77 minutes through Italeng, whose header was saved by Mastrantonio. Roma broke on the counter on 86 minutes but Podgoreanu fired over, but Cortinovis again restored the Atalanta lead with a splendid curler into the top corner. That was the goal that secured a spot in the semifinal, which will take place on Saturday against Sampdoria always in Sassuolo.
PRIMAVERA ROMA 2-1 ATALANTA
Scorers: Cortinovis 4 (A), Zalewski 68 (R), Cortinovis 88 (A)
Roma: Mastrantonio, Tomassini (Satriano 89), Ndiaye, Buttaro, Tripi, Milanese (Feratovic 80), Bove (Ciervo 57), Tall (Afena–Gyan 46), Zalewski, Podgoreanu, Rocchetti (Oliveras 57). Bench: Boer, Evangelisti, Giorcelli, Tahirovic, Bamba, Volpato, Di Bartolo. Coach: Alberto De Rossi.
Atalanta: Dajcar, Ghislandi, Ceresoli (Grassi 75), Scalvini, Gyabuaa, Italeng, Cortinovis, Ghisleni (De Nipoti 79), Berto (Scanagatta 75), Sidibe (Mediero 85), G. Renault (Oliveri 79). Bench: Gelmi, Sassi, Vismara, Giovane, Kobacki, Hecko, Zuccon. Coach: Massimo Brambilla.
Referee: Daniele Perenzoni from Rovereto (assistants Roberto Terenzio from Cosenza and Vincenzo Pedone from Reggio Calabria, Fourth official Alberto Ruben Arena from Torre del Greco).
Notes: Ndiaye (R), Tomassini (R), Sidibe (A), Ceresoli (A), Scalvini (A) booked.
