Nicolo Zaniolo made certain Atalanta will keep prime of Serie A this weekend with the one aim in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Cagliari which secured a club-record tenth straight league win. Substitute Zaniolo determined a hard-fought encounter in Sardinia by stroking house Raoul Bellanova’s cut-back within the 66th minute. The victory moved Atalanta 5 factors clear in Serie A. Closest challengers Napoli can reduce the hole again to 2 factors at Udinese afterward Saturday, whereas Juventus are 10 factors off the tempo forward of their house fixture with backside membership Venezia.
“We’re up there, but winning 10 matches in a row doesn’t really mean anything as there are teams this season who have won eight on the bounce,” mentioned coach Gian Piero Gasperini to DAZN.
Gasperini was not blissful along with his gamers’ performances as, after impressing in Tuesday’s 3–2 defeat to Real Madrid, they struggled in opposition to Cagliari who’re fifteenth and solely two factors above the relegation zone.
Atalanta, who additionally struck the submit by way of Ademola Lookman virtually straight after Zaniolo’s winner, solely got here away with all three factors due to an excellent efficiency between the sticks from Marco Carnesecchi.
Goalkeeper Carnesecchi pulled off three sensational stops within the six minutes earlier than the break and saved the win in stoppage time by holding out Leonardo Pavoletti’s header.
“A good chunk of this team, not everyone, needs to grow up a bit and get the same mentality as the core group of the squad,” mentioned Gasperini. whose choice to make three substitutions at half-time was an indication of his dissatisfaction.
“Only then will we make those big steps forward.”
Zaniolo’s strike was his third of the season and an extra signal of latest life from the Italy worldwide after a tough previous few years.
The 25-year-old was as soon as the rising star of Italian football after coming to prominence at Roma, the place two severe knee accidents in 2020 stymied his growth as a artistic playmaker.
He gained the inaugural Europa Conference League with Roma in 2022 underneath Jose Mourinho, however fell out with the Portuguese coach and final yr was packed off to Galatasaray, from the place he was loaned to Atalanta in July.
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