Gasperini gushes as Atalanta smash records

Atalanta’s 2-2 draw at champions, Juventus on Saturday (July 11) saw the Bergamo club smash multiple records in a match that Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini said his side deserved to win.

Duvan Zapata’s opener for the visitors saw Gasperini’s side achieve a feat not witnessed in Serie A for 68 years. The Colombian international Zapata finished off a clever pass from Alejandro Gomez to score his 15th league goal of the season in the 16th minute at the Allianz Stadium, ensuring that Atalanta became the first team with three players scoring at least 15 goals in the same Serie A campaign since 1952. Ermes Muccinelli, Giampiero Boniperti and John Hansen last did that, for Juventus, in the 1951-52 season.

Josip Ilicic had already scored 15 goals when Zapata netted, while Luis Muriel had racked up 17. Atalanta have now also scored in 20 successive Serie A matches – their best run in the competition since the 1955-56 season.

In Saturday’s match, Atalanta led twice through Zapata and Ruslan Malinovskiy, but Cristiano Ronaldo scored penalties to cancel out both goals, including a 90th-minute equalizer.

While Gasperini was proud of his third-placed team, the Atalanta coach believes they deserved all three points.
“I’m definitely more proud. We played great in the first half and in the second half there was a comeback by Juve,” he told a news conference.
“But with our play, we managed to take the lead and play a great game anyway. Of course, we are also upset because we deserved to win.
“But, in football, your performance is not always enough,” he concluded.

With six games left to play in Serie A, Atalanta lie third in the table, nine points adrift of Juventus.