Atalanta scraped a 1-0 victory deep into stoppages with the Lazar Samardzic snapshot surprising Lukasz Skorupski, after Bologna had come closest to getting a winner.
La Dea were in a more positive mood after beating Sassuolo 2-1 and securing Conference League qualification with the midweek play-off victory against Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Isak Hien, Thomas Kristensen and Kamaldeen Sulemana were still injured, with club record holder Marten de Roon surprisingly moving to Roma yesterday.
Bologna had a disastrous pre-season and then lost the opener at home to Lazio, so confidence was rock bottom. Jonathan Rowe was also left behind amid transfer speculation of a €40m switch to Atalanta, with Oussama El Azzouzi and Nicolò Casale nursing knocks.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Federico Bernardeschi stung Marco Carnesecchi’s gloves with a sudden scorcher, while Giacomo Raspadori volleyed over from an audacious position.
Gianluca Scamacca and Roberto Piccoli tested the goalkeepers, while Carnesecchi made a sensational reaction save from point-blank range on Lewis Ferguson’s volley, even if there were suspicions of offside on the Bernardeschi assist to the back post.
Jens Odgaard drilled wide from distance, but Niccolò Cambiaghi came so close to the opener with an absolutely ferocious strike from outside the area that smacked against the base of the far post.
Eljif Elmas tried to dribble through a crowd, but was blocked off, then Bologna were forced to change substitute Riccardo Orsolini due to a muscular injury.
Mikel Amondarain and Artem Dovbyk failed to make the most of promising situations with poor finishing, but Bernardeschi’s daisy-cutter did force a difficult save out of Carnesecchi from distance.
It seemed as if they were heading to a disappointing point apiece when a moment of magic changed everything. Samardzic gathered from outside the area, turned and hit a bending left-foot finish that dipped under the grasp of Lukasz Skorupski and squirmed into the far bottom corner. The goalkeeper was late getting down and not too confident on the save, but it did bounce right in front of him.
Atalanta 1-0 Bologna
Samardzic 96 (A)
Match statistic
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