Atalanta pips Salernitana to a narrow win

On Saturday night, Danish Joakim Mæhle and Atalanta visited Salernitana for the first time since 2004, where the two played together in Serie B. If the Champions League participants from Bergamo thought that they should just wade easily and elegantly over the promotions this Saturday, then they were wrong.

The home team had clearly studied Atalanta's first Serie A match from this season, where the Bergamo club had major problems away from home against Torino. Salernitana attacked Atalanta in a completely similar pressure, and in the first half the favorites were pushed far back on their own half of the field, and they struggled with several errors, which were about to give Salernitana great opportunities.

Closest to a goal in the first half came the home team's striker Milan Djuric, who from a distance listed the ball on the crossbar. The most dramatic moment of the first half occurred shortly before the break. Salernitana's Milan Djuric planted a solid elbow right in the face of Atalanta defender Merih Demiral, who split his eyebrow in the collision. Quite miraculously Djuric escaped a direct red card, and was therefore allowed to stay on the field.

In the second half, the match picture continued. Atalanta were pushed back, and had many dangerous counterattacks.

As happened in the aforementioned match against Torino, Atalanta managed to find their way to the net masks, in a match where they had their game broken by a well-organized opponent. Duvan Zapata was played free in the box, and sent it into the Salernitana cage.

Zapata's goal was the only goal of the match, and therefore the Bergamo club, which still has not won on its own turf, secures their second away victory in the Serie A season. Atalanta therefore temporarily moves up to seventh place in the table. Salernitana, on the other hand, have still not picked up a single point in this Serie A season, and are placed last in the table with a goal score of 2-12 after four games.