Charles De Ketelaere scored his first Serie A goal on his debut for Atalanta while Nadir Zortea also netted a screamer in the win away to Sassuolo.
La Dea had bad news in the build-up to this season opener, as record signing El Bilal Toure sustained a serious tendon injury, joining Hans Hateboer, Jose Luis Palomino, Michel Adopo and suspended Nicolò Cambiaghi on the absentee list. Gianluca Scamacca and Charles De Ketelaere were not risked for their debuts from the start. The Neroverdi had Ruan Tressoldi on a ban, with Agustin Alvarez sidelined and Domenico Berardi left out as he tries to force through a transfer to Juventus.
It was a strong start from the visitors, as Martin Erlic had to clear a Teun Koopmeiners strike practically off the line, then Erlic made another decisive block on Ademola Lookman from Davide Zappacosta’s pull-back.
Mattia Viti also got in the way of Duvan Zapata in the six-yard box and Andrea Consigli denied the Colombian at the near post, while Maxime Lopez made a goal-line clearance on the Duvan Zapata header from a corner.
Sassuolo went on the counter-attack and Juan Musso had to palm away the Matheus Henrique scorcher, then after the restart Armand Lauriente came close to an audacious lob from midfield.
Charles De Ketelaere came on for his Atalanta debut and within minutes failed to make the most of a Matteo Ruggeri cross, crouching to nod it wide from close range.
Gianluca Scamacca also came on and immediately battled between defenders to set up De Ketelaere for a strike that thumped the crossbar.
An acrobatic Ederson volley dipped viciously to land on the roof of the net, but De Ketelaere finally got his first Serie A goal after a toothless year for Milan. It was a similar move to earlier, another Ruggeri cross and the Belgian’s header, but this time goal-line technology showed it crossed over before Consigli’s desperate save.
Musso ran a big risk rushing out to stop Lauriente, but Atalanta sealed the points in stoppages with a low daisy-cutter from Nadir Zortea outside the box into the far bottom corner.
Sassuolo 0-2 Atalanta
De Ketelaere 83 (A), Zortea 93 (A)