Three days before the challenge at Old Trafford against Manchester United, in the Champions League, Atalanta warms up at the ‘Castellani’ by beating Empoli 4-1. The Bergamo players win easily considering two balls saved on the line by Demiral and a penalty missed by Ilicic. The Slovenian, on the starting line, only needed a few superfine play to put in difficulty a proactive and at times convincing Empoli, but not very constant in performance and too fragile in defense.
The Slovenian scored a heavy double and could have reached the hat-trick without the mistake from eleven meters. Uncontainable Duvan Zapata, entered at the beginning of the second half and present in the action of Viti’s own goal, as well as author of the 4-1 final, which for him means the goal of the 100th goal in Serie A. The orobics thus celebrate 114 / o birthday of the club with a success, the fifth in the last six away games in Serie A.
At the ‘Castellani’, after several days of absence, the ultras have also returned to give a hand to the team, which however collects the second consecutive defeat after the one against Roma and on the horizon has the insidious away match against Salernitana, a direct confrontation to be faced against the lowest in the standings from Campania. The match starts immediately at full speed. At the 4 ‘rescue of Romagnoli on Muriel and then, on the developments of the corner, Pasalic finds the header that touches the post. Empoli responds with Henderson, but Demiral says his first ‘no’ on the line. Ilicic at 11 ‘exchanges with Pasalic and goes to beat Vicario for 0-1. Atalanta again: on 26 ‘the Slovenian duets from the edge with Muriel, the Colombian, serves the number 72 who kicks a left turn at the far post and mock Vicario with disarming ease. Andreazzoli’s guys react with Di Francesco: Stulac’s long throw and right-footed shot that overtakes Musso.
After the interval Zapata immediately becomes decisive: Pasalic puts in the middle and the young Viti, to anticipate the Colombian, takes Vicario off guard. At 20 ‘Zappacosta goes to the ground in the area after a contrast with Bandinelli: right foot on right, for the referee Serra it is possible to continue but after a few minutes, after having seen the images of the Var, he assigns the penalty. Ilicic goes to the spot but shoots high. In the final minutes, Atalanta cannot help but think of Manchester, but find a way to go close to the 4 / o goal. At 78 ‘Malinovsky touches the net with his head, but Vicario is good in diving. Cutrone, who entered with Bajrami and then also with Parisi, on his Serie A debut, kicks first intention during a scrum in the area, Demiral got back on the line. In the final Pasalic packs another assist for Zapata who closes the match.