Monza are officially relegated to Serie B, as Charles De Ketelaere broke his 16-round Serie A goal drought with a brace to give Atalanta the away victory.
La Dea were hoping to consolidate third place with several head-to-head clashes behind them this weekend, but were also coming off a 1-1 draw with Lecce. Stefan Posch, Sead Kolasinac, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca were still injured. The hosts had felt doomed for some time, adding suspended Andrea Carboni to injured Armando Izzo, Keita Balde Diao, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Silvere Ganvoula, Kevin Zeroli, Roberto Gagliardini and Matteo Pessina, plus Stefano Turati with flu symptoms.
Atalanta supporters in mourning
There was a tragic build-up to this game, with news earlier today a 26-year-old Atalanta fan was stabbed to death by a 19-year-old Inter supporter during a brawl outside a bar in Bergamo. The visiting fans therefore had banners in his honour and sat largely in silence.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.
De Ketelaere had his first start in over a month and promptly marked it with his first Serie A goal of 2025, as Mateo Retegui pulled back from the right, the Belgian cut inside between two defenders and surprised the goalkeeper at the near post rather than the far bottom corner.
To make matters worse for Monza, they lost captain Luca Caldirola to injury a few minutes later.
Ademola Lookman’s low right-foot curler was bent inches wide from the edge of the area after a smart Retegui back-heel flick, then Samuele Birindelli blasted across the face of goal after an Alessandro Bianco counter-attack.
The second Atalanta goal was a gift with some chaotic defending. Gaetano Castrovilli intercepted the Retegui through ball for Lookman, but two Monza teammates did not react quickly enough, whereas De Ketelaere did to prod home from 14 yards.
Gianluca Caprari stung Marco Carnesecchi’s gloves at the near post and Monza had the ball in the net just before half-time, but Gaetano Castrovilli’s diving header was ruled offside.
Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro also forced Carnesecchi to fingertip a scorcher over the bar.
Odilon Kossounou went off at half-time with a muscular issue after an awkward slip, but Atalanta added a third goal when Retegui flicked on a long ball for Lookman to skin substitute Stefan Lekovic and beat the goalkeeper at the near post.
It should’ve been 4-0 on 55 minutes, but Ederson incredibly nodded wide from six yards after an Isak Hien knockdown.
Dany Mota Carvalho tested Carnesecchi, as did Forson with a header he had to palm off the line with great difficulty, but there was bad news for Atalanta because Hien will be suspended for the head-to-head with Roma.
Daniel Maldini came on against his former club, but fired straight at the on-rushing goalkeeper.
Atalanta did get their fourth late on when Marco Brescianini nodded down a Raoul Bellanova cross, the attempted clearance fell back to his feet and he blasted into the roof of the net from six yards.
Monza 0-4 Atalanta
De Ketelaere 12, 23 (A), Lookman 47 (A), Brescianini 88 (A)
Player statistic
| 12' |  |
Charles De Ketelaere (Assist: Mateo Retegui) | ||
| 23' | |
Charles De Ketelaere |
| 47' | |
Ademola Lookman (Assist: Mateo Retegui) | ||
| Tomas Palacios |  |
51' | ||
| 71' | |
Isak Hien | ||
| 81' | |
Juan Cuadrado | ||
| 89' | |
Marco Brescianini (Assist: Mario Pasalic) |
Match statistic
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