Atalanta shot themselves in the foot during a 1-0 home defeat to AZ Alkmaar, gifting a goal after 32 seconds and Duvan Zapata then missing a penalty.
This was a family affair in Bergamo, as brothers Teun and Peer Koopmeiners faced off for opposing teams, but goalkeeper Juan Musso was out with an ankle sprain.
It was a disastrous start for La Dea, as within 32 seconds their insistence on passing the ball around inside their own penalty area was punished by a high Hakon Evjen press on Jose Luis Palomino’s sideways ball.
Rasmus Hojlund was unlucky not to equalise for the hosts at the ninth minute, as his left-foot strike bounced off the base of the upright.
Moments later, a looping long-range Ederson attempt dipped viciously and had to be fingertipped out from under the bar, while the goalkeeper was also decisive on an Ademola Lookman control and volley and Palomino’s header flashed inches wide.
Yet AZ Alkmaar really should’ve gone 2-0 up after the restart with a well-worked counter-attack, only for Tijjani Reijnders to balloon over the bar.
Duvan Zapata was brought down by an unnecessarily risky rush off the line from the AZ goalkeeper, the Colombian striker seeing the resulting penalty parried by Hobie Verhulst and then firing the rebound over an open goal.
Atalanta 0-1 AZ Alkmaar
Evjen 1 (AZ)
Saved penalty: Duvan Zapata 79 (A)
Atalanta: Sportiello, Toloi (Okoli 86), Palomino (Scalvini 56), Djimsiti, Zappacosta (Maehle 46), De Roon (Boga 86), Ederson (Malinovskyi 67), Ruggeri (Soppy 56), T Koopmeiners, Lookman (Muriel 67), Højlund (Duvan Zapata 67)
AZ Alkmaar: Verhulst, Sugawara, Hatzidiakos, Beukema, M de Wit (Kerkez 62), Clasie (D de Wit 62), Reijnders (Barasi 88), Evjen (Dekker 75), Odgaard, Pavlidis (P Koopmeiners 88), Karlsson (Lahdo 88)