Serie A 2-2 Atalanta: Entertaining draw does little for either team's fortune
Both these clubs had been accustomed to considerably better results in recent years, butwere struggling badly. The Viola had a brief resurgence with Paolo Vanoli's return, only to suffer three consecutive defeats, with Marin Pongracic joining Luca Ranieri, Arthur Atta and Fabiano Parisi on the treatment table.
This paled in comparison to Atalanta's injury crisis, which expanded to include Gianluca Scamacca, Raoul Bellanova, Giacomo Raspadori, Franck Kessie, Sead Kolasinac, Isak Hien and Odilon Kossounou. The only boost was the return of Giorgio Scalvini to the bench.
La Dea won just one of their last six Serie A games,fresh off a 4-4 thrillerwith Frosinone. See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Mateo Pellegrino and Alex Jimenez fired off target in a very aggressive Fiorentina start, before Franco Mastantuono tested Marco Carnesecchi at the near post. La Dea's first real chance came on 19 minutes, as Charles De Ketelaere rolled across from the left for an Eljif Elmas shot charged down.
Carnesecchi had to be alert to stick out a leg when the Cher Ndour attempt took a double deflection, while Gianluca Gaetano fired over at the other end on an Elmas lay-off. Mastantuono's curler was inches wide, but Atalanta opened the scoring when Gianluca Gaetano tackled Niccolò Fagioli in midfield to start the counter-attack, Nicola Zalewski pulling across from the left for De Ketelaere to sweep in from 12 yards.
The injury crisis spread to the referee, as Federico La Penna was unable to continue in the second half, so he swapped places with fourth official Livio Marinelli. It was suddenly wide open, Viery intercepting the De Ketelaere roll across with Krstovic ready to tap in, but Joao Mario put Fiorentina in front when his shot from outside the area took a huge deflection off Relja Obric to completely wrongfoot Carnesecchi.
De Ketelaere provided the assist for the Atalanta equaliser, as Nicola Zalewski drilled through a sea of legs to surprise De Gea at the near bottom corner. Carnesecchi used his legs to deny Brescianini at the near post, while De Ketelaere forced a flying save out of De Gea and late substitute Beto nodded wide in added time.
De Ketelaere 41 (A), Njie 53 (F), Joao Mario 61 (F), Zalewski 74 (A) 1st half 12' Eljif Elmas Viery 30' 41' Charles De Ketelaere (Assist: Nicola Zalewski) 2nd half Mateo Pellegrino 51' Alieu Njie (Assist: Álex Jiménez) 53' João Mário (Assist: Alieu Njie) 61' 74' Nicola Zalewski (Assist: Charles De Ketelaere) Wilfried Gnonto 75' 83' Relja Obric Fiorentina Atalanta 43 Goalkeeper 20 Defender 17 Defender 3 Defender 33 Defender 27 Midfielder 30 Midfielder 90' 4 Midfielder 44 Midfielder 46' 25 Attacker 69' 32 Attacker 90' 29 Goalkeeper 77 Defender 47 Defender 40 Defender 31 Defender 4' 13 Midfielder 99 Midfielder 58' 70 Midfielder 57' 59 Midfielder 84' 17 Attacker 90 Attacker 19 Goalkeeper 2 Defender 53 Goalkeeper 21 Defender 73 Midfielder 72 Attacker 75 Defender 42 Midfielder 46' 29 Attacker 69' 23 Attacker 90' 28 Midfielder 90' 10 Midfielder 57 Goalkeeper 53 Defender 41 Midfielder 51 Goalkeeper 42 Defender 4' 8 Midfielder 57' 11 Midfielder 58' 7 Midfielder 84' Post navigation