Atalanta laid siege to Cagliari and only Guglielmo Vicario’s heroics prevented it being a heavier result than 3-1, as they go through to the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
The winners will go on to face either Lazio or Parma the next phase of the tournament.
These teams arrived in very different form, as La Dea had won three on the bounce, while the Sardinians lost four in a row. Joakim Maehle was given his first start for the club following his January transfer, but Papu Gomez was still frozen out.
Atalanta laid siege to Cagliari and only Guglielmo Vicario’s heroics prevented it being a heavier result than 3-1, as they go through to the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
The winners will go on to face either Lazio or Parma the next phase of the tournament.
These teams arrived in very different form, as La Dea had won three on the bounce, while the Sardinians lost four in a row. Joakim Maehle was given his first start for the club following his January transfer, but Papu Gomez was still frozen out.
Aleksei Miranchuk fired in from close range on a corner within four minutes, but was flagged offside, then tested the goalkeeper with a ferocious strike from distance.
Cagliari goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario fumbled a Luis Muriel effort and rushed off his line to block the rebound, then got down for a tough one-handed save on Miranchuk’s daisy-cutter.
The siege continued and he performed another miracle on Robin Gosens from point-blank range, before Muriel clipped the base of the upright.
The deadlock was finally broken just before half-time when Muriel pulled back from the by-line for Miranchuk to smash into the roof of the net with a first-time strike from eight yards. It means Miranchuk has scored on his debut for Atalanta in Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia.
Muriel caught the frame of the goal for the second time, as his free kick bounced off the top of the crossbar.
There was another remarkable one-handed Vicario save on Muriel, but Cagliari then went on the counter and scored with their first genuine opportunity.
Riccardo Sottil ran onto a long throw from Vicario, blazed away from Bosko Sutalo and placed an angled drive into the far bottom corner, completely against the run of play. Atalanta had 14 chances and still were only 1-0 up.
Atalanta resumed the siege and found a way through with Muriel’s precise finish from a tight angle on the Robin Gosens through ball.
Vicario also continued his Man of the Match performance with a fingertip save on the Malinovskyi rocket of a free kick that was flying into the far top corner.
There was nothing he could do on the third goal, as a corner found Sutalo unmarked to volley in from six yards.
Yet Cagliari almost made it 3-2 when Sottil’s strike thumped the crossbar with Marco Sportiello beaten, and Josip Ilicic tested Vicario.
Vicario made another stunning save on Malinovskyi in stoppages, but Berat Djimsiti turned in the rebound when the offside flag was up.
Atalanta 3-1 Cagliari
Miranchuk 43 (A), Sottil 55 (C), Muriel 61 (A), Sutalo 64 (A)
Atalanta: Sportiello; Sutalo, Romero, Djimsiti; Maehle, Freuler (Depaoli 75), Pessina (De Roon 46), Gosens (Hateboer 68), Malinovskyi, Miranchuk (Ilicic 69); Muriel (Palomino 88)
Cagliari: Vicario; Zappa, Ceppitelli, Walukiewicz, Tripaldelli (Lykogiannis 82); Marin, Caligara (Joao Pedro 66); Tramoni (Pereiro 72), Nandez, Sottil (Ounas 82); Pavoletti (Cerri 66)
Ref: Dionisi