On matchday 3 of the 2020-2021 Serie A TIM season, on the seasonal debut at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo Atalanta win the third match in a row in three games played: 5-2 victory over Cagliari.

The Nerazzurri started strong and broke the deadlock after just 7 minutes with Muriel assisted by Palomino: the goal was initially disallowed as the offside flag was raised, but it was then given after the VAR checked that the Nerazzurri forward was not offside. The Nerazzurri almost doubled their lead through Muriel after 20 minutes and especially with de Roon on 22, who was only denied by the crossbar. On 24 Cagliari equalised through a Godin header on a corner. The draw only lasted five minutes, as Gomez, who had been awarded the prize given by Lega Serie A for being the best midfielder of last season, with a right-foot curler in the far bottom corner restored the Nerazzurri lead on 29. The third Atalanta goal came on 37 from a wonderful team move finished by Robin Gosens for Pašalić to steer into the net. And the fourth goal arrived before half-time with a strong move from Zapata who cut inside down the left flank to fire in off the inside of the far post.

In the second half, the Nerazzurri were close to scoring the fifth with Muriel and Romero, both denied by Cragno, before Joao Pedro got back into the game for 4-2. But in the 36th minute Lammers scored his maiden goal for Atalanta and it’s a masterpiece of technique and elegance: he dribbled in the box and sent his right-foot angled drive into the far bottom corner.

ATALANTA 5-2 CAGLIARI

Goals: Muriel 7 (A), Godin 24 (C), Gomez 29 (A), Pašalić 37 (A), Zapata 42 (A), Joao Pedro 52 (C), Lammers 81 (A)

Atalanta: Sportiello, Romero, Palomino (Šutalo 86), Djimsiti, Hateboer, de Roon, Pašalić, Gosens (Mojica 74), Gomez (Malinovskyi 65), Muriel (Freuler 74), Zapata (Lammers 65). Bench: Carnesecchi, Rossi, Depaoli, Ruggeri, Diallo. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.

Cagliari: Cragno, Zappa (Faragò 86), Walukievicz, Godin (Klavan 86), Lykogiannis, Nandez, Marin (M. Tramoni 65), Rog, Sottil (Caligara 77), Simeone, Joao Pedro (Pavoletti 86). Bench: Aresti, Vicario, Tripaldelli, Pinna, Pisacane, Oliva,  Carboni. Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco.

Referee: Fabrizio Pasqua from Tivoli.
Assistants: Giovanni Baccini from Conegliano and Mattia Scarpa from Reggio Emilia.
Fourth official: Davide Ghersini from Genova.
V.A.R.: Daniele Orsato from Schio.
A.V.A.R.: Mauro Galetto from Rovigo.