Atalanta secured a 2-1 victory away to bottom of the table Cagliari thanks to Mario Pasalic and Duvan Zapata goals, around the temporary Joao Pedro equaliser.
The Sardinians had Martin Caceres suspended, Keita Balde Diao hospitalised to remove an abscess from his tonsils, plus Dalbert, Marko Rog, Paolo Faragò and Damir Ceter injured, so Nahitan Nandez was moved into a more advanced role. La Dea missed Rafael Toloi, Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer, while Jose Luis Palomino returned from suspension and Matteo Pessina was on the bench after a long lay-off.
It took just six minutes to break the deadlock, as Duvan Zapata spread the ball down the right for Davide Zappacosta, who rolled it across the face of goal for the Mario Pasalic tap-in at the back post.
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Atalanta continued to dominate, Duvan Zapata forcing a desperate Alessio Cragno save from point-blank range, the Pasalic follow-up deflected wide.
However, Cagliari scored with a route one goal, as Joao Pedro let Diego Godin’s ball over the top bounce, then prodded it past on-rushing Juan Musso with a slight deflection off Merih Demiral.
The visitors restored their advantage, as Teun Koopmeiners found Duvan Zapata with his back to goal from 12 yards, the Colombian spun Godin and Cragno got a hand to it, but not enough.
Cagliari had a huge chance to equalise straight after the restart, but Raoul Bellanova blasted over from 10 yards after a cross went past everyone.
There was a bizarre moment on 57 minutes when the referee awarded a penalty for Andrea Carboni going through the back of Pasalic. However, after the VAR on-field review, the official changed his mind, realising Carboni had kicked the ball between Pasalic’s legs and was only ever looking at the ball. Pasalic stepped in front of him at the last moment.
Josip Ilicic came off the bench and forced a stunning fingertip save from Cragno, twisting past his marker to shoot from a tricky angle.
Leonardo Pavoletti attempted an audacious back-heel flick that went wide and his header looped inches over, while Cragno rushed out to smother at the feet of Pasalic and blocked a Duvan Zapata snapshot.
There was a triple chance to kill the game in stoppages, but Ilicic and Pasalic had heavy touches, then Zappacosta’s effort was deflected wide.
Cagliari 1-2 Atalanta
Pasalic 6 (A), Joao Pedro 27 (C), Duvan Zapata 43 (A)