Merih Demiral said teenage debutant Moustapha Cisse ‘already settled in really well’ with the Atalanta squad even before his dream Serie A debut winner against Bologna.
It was an extraordinary fairy-tale story for Cisse, who only officially signed for the Atalanta youth academy on February 22, previously playing in the eighth tier of Italian football for a team made up entirely of refugees seeking asylum.
Serie A | Bologna 0-1 Atalanta: Cisse’ dream debut at the Dall’Ara
The 18-year-old from Guinea scored twice on his Primavera debut, three goals in four games for the youth side, then came off the bench at the Stadio Dall’Ara and scored the winner within 17 minutes of his Serie A debut.
He was carried on the shoulders of his teammates to salute the travelling fans after the final whistle.
“It was important to win tonight, I am very happy for Atalanta and for Cisse, because he already settled in really well during training,” Demiral told DAZN.
“He deserved this goal and from the next game he will do even better.”
Atalanta are now fifth with a game in hand and will play RB Leipzig in the Europa League quarter-final, so there’s plenty still to play for.
“We are working so hard in training and improving, we’re starting to see the fruits of our labour.”
What a story for Atalanta’s Moustapha Cissé 🤩
Comes off the bench and scores on his Serie A debut.
The 18-year-old was playing in the 8th tier of Italian football just a few weeks ago 😳 pic.twitter.com/dTnYQoyI9A
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 20, 2022
Look. I’m the first poster on here to be whinging about having more Italians in out leagues but you can’t help but be happy for the kid.