Nicolo Zaniolo made positive Atalanta will keep high of Serie A this weekend with the one objective in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Cagliari which secured a club-record tenth straight league win.
Substitute Zaniolo determined a hard-fought encounter in Sardinia by stroking residence Raoul Bellanova’s cut-back within the 66th minute. The victory moved Atalanta 5 factors clear in Serie A.
Closest challengers Napoli can lower the hole again to 2 factors at Udinese afterward Saturday, whereas Juventus are 10 factors off the tempo forward of their residence fixture with backside membership Venezia.
“We’re up there, however successful 10 matches in a row doesn’t actually imply something as there are groups this season who’ve gained eight on the bounce,” mentioned coach Gian Piero Gasperini to DAZN.
Gasperini was not blissful along with his gamers’ performances as, after impressing in Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat to Actual Madrid, they struggled towards Cagliari who’re fifteenth and solely two factors above the relegation zone.
Atalanta, who additionally struck the submit by means of Ademola Lookman virtually straight after Zaniolo’s winner, solely got here away with all three factors due to an excellent efficiency between the sticks from Marco Carnesecchi.
Goalkeeper Carnesecchi pulled off three sensational stops within the six minutes earlier than the break and saved the win in stoppage time by preserving out Leonardo Pavoletti’s header.
“A very good chunk of this staff, not everybody, must develop up a bit and get the identical mentality because the core group of the squad,” mentioned Gasperini. whose choice to make three substitutions at half-time was an indication of his dissatisfaction.
“Solely then will we make these huge steps ahead.”
Zaniolo’s strike was his third of the season and an additional signal of latest life from the Italy worldwide after a tough previous couple of years.
The 25-year-old was as soon as the rising star of Italian soccer after coming to prominence at Roma, the place two critical knee accidents in 2020 stymied his improvement as a artistic playmaker.
He gained the inaugural Europa Convention League with Roma in 2022 underneath Jose Mourinho, however fell out with the Portuguese coach and final yr was packed off to Galatasaray, from the place he was loaned to Atalanta in July.
