Atalanta 3-2 Lazio
Lazio’s Serie A title hopes were dealt with a heavy blow as they lost in a high-scoring affair against Atalanta last Wednesday night at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.
The Simone Inzaghi-managed squad were initially holding a 2-0 lead after scoring two quick goals in the match’s first 11 minutes. However, the home team dug deep and mounted a furious comeback to stun their visitors.
The trio of Robin Gosens, Ruslan Malinovskiy, and Jose Palomino stepped up big time by providing the much needed goals to complete the rally on a rare occasion that their usual suspects were not on target.
The result widened the gap between Juventus and Lazio in the Serie A standings, which favours the former in our Serie A 2020 odds for the championship. As of this writing, the defending champions have 66 points while I Biancocelesti sit at the second spot with 62 points.
Atalanta, on the other hand, maintained their grip at the solo fourth spot with 54 points and they can possibly overtake Inter Milan at the third spot should they continue their lethal scoring ways.
It was a mouthwatering clash to witness between these two top teams that may have given our football fans a jolt of excitement since the league’s restart.
So without further ado, let us recap last night’s package of La Liga 2020 highlights here at SBOBET.
Highlights of the game
Prior to this match, my colleague pointed out that this might be a goal-fest and it turned out to be true since defence was optional in this match.
After all, these two teams lead the league in scoring this season – with Atalanta punching in 77 and Lazio finding the back of the net 62 times.
It was Lazio’s first game back since late February, and they were coming off back-to-back high scoring wins against Genoa and Bologna before the mandated break.
Whereas for Atalanta, they defeated Valencia, 4-3, in their latest Champions League tiff and they dominated Sassuolo by scoring four goals too.
The Biancocelesti landed the first punch in this heavyweight clash when they launched a counterattack within the first five minutes.
Joaquin Correa tried to volley the ball over to a cutting Jony, but his pass was picked off by Marten de Roon, whose deflection unfortunately bounced the ball to the back of the net.
And then six minutes later, the Biancocelesti scored their second goal of the evening when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic picked up a loose ball just outside the penalty box and fired a long-range strike to put themselves up 2-0.
Midway into the first half, Atalanta would have their first real chance when Duvan Zapata was on the receiving end of a lovely pass from Papu Gomez. However, his short shot went too wide past the left post.
Robin Gosens would put Atalanta in the scoring column when he scored via a header off of a wonderful cross by Hans Hateboer just before halftime at the 38th minute.
And then come the second half, the floodgates have opened for the home team.
In the 66th minute, Ruslan Malinovskiy scored his sixth goal of the year by launching an emphatic equaliser from outside the box after a botched corner kick.
To complete the comeback, Jose Palomino scored the final goal in the 80th minute with a header coming from a set-piece from Alejandro Gomez as Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha misjudged the flight of the ball.
Alejandro Gomez would try to add another goal for good measure in the last few minutes when he received a through ball from Duvan Zapata. However, Thomas Strakosha was there to block the shot away.
Key statistics
With the win, Atalanta dealt Lazio their first league loss since September 25, 2019 – ending their 21-match unbeaten run.
Atalanta controlled 59-per cent of the possession while having 21 total shots compared to Lazio’s eight.
Lazio never had a single corner attempt in this game while Atalanta had 11.
Despite having not scored in this game, Ciro Immobile remains on top of the league in terms of goals scored this term – with 27 goals and seven assists as of this writing.
What’s next?
Atalanta head on over to the Dacia Arena where they’ll face Udinese on Monday and then they will face another top club in Napoli four days later at home.
Lazio will try to regroup against the visiting Fiorentina on Sunday before flying over to the Olimpico di Torino to visit the 13th-seeded Torino team.
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