The penultimate round of the current season of the Italian Championship started on Wednesday with two matches with the participation of the teams fighting for the silver - Atalanta and Inter. Bergamoski moved up to second place after beating Bologna, but a draw against Milan once again allowed a competitor to overtake them.
Thus, Gian Piero Gasperini's wards should never have lost points in an away meeting with the middle peasant Parma. However, the guests failed the first half. They did not strike a single shot on target, but they could have missed more than once.
In particular, at the very beginning of the meeting, the former team was almost upset by Dejan Kulushevski. After hitting the young Swede, the ball hit the post and jumped into the field.
However, shortly before the break, the 20-year-old striker still opened an account. Taking advantage of Gervinho's penetrating pass into the penalty area, he easily beat the defender and shot into the far corner past the goalkeeper.
The goal was Kuluszewski's tenth this season in Serie A, but he did not celebrate it, because Dejan started his career in Italy at the age of 16 with Atalanta. But for the first team, he played only three matches, and this season began on loan at Parma. A series of successful games performed by the Swede was enough for Juventus to pay € 35 million for the player.
And, perhaps, the new season of Kulushevski will start as part of the Turin team, because in the current one he has already made his way into the top 15 of Serie A in terms of points for performance. Dejan has ten goals and eight assists. Only Andreas Cornelius is ahead of him in the team scoring race with 11 accurate shots.
But Atalanta managed to show character and snatch victory in the second half. Once again, Bergamoskov rescued a strong blow from the replacement Ruslan Malinovsky. 20 minutes before the end, he shot from a free kick through the opponents standing in the wall, and the shell flew into the net. The Ukrainian has already scored the fifth goal in the current Serie A draw with a kick from outside the penalty area. This is the best result in the top 5 European championships.
Another long-range shot brought three points to the guests. At the end of the meeting Dario Gomez distinguished himself. The Argentinian advanced with the ball to the other's goal, beat the defender and accurately shot into the far corner.
This is how Atalanta won the most important victory, retained the chances for the second place and at the same time repeated the achievement of Juventus 68 years ago, which in the 1951/52 season also recorded 98 goals in the Italian championship. The tournament record belongs to Milan, whose footballers have scored 118 times in the 1949/50 national championship.
It is almost impossible for the Bergamos to beat him in the remaining two matches, but they can become the most productive team of the current season in the leading championships of the Old World. So far only Manchester City (102) and Bayern (100) are ahead of them. However, in England and Germany, the championship has already ended.
Inter also did not misfire, scoring at home two unanswered goals against Napoli. Thus, the Milanese took revenge from the opponent for the defeat in the Italian Cup semifinals this season. Following the Nerazzurri, the Neapolitans beat Juventus in a penalty shootout in the decisive match of the tournament and guaranteed their participation in the Europa League.
But the match with Inter began extremely unsuccessfully for them. In the opening of the match, the guests lost the ball in their half of the field, and the opponent took advantage of this mistake. Romelu Lukaku, after filing from the right flank, did not reach the projectile, but Cristiano Biraghi, who joined the attack, immediately performed an assist to Danilo D'Ambrosio.
Having missed, "Napoli" seized the initiative and created several dangerous moments at the gate of Samir Handanovic, but the experienced Slovenian acted flawlessly and saved the team a couple of times.
And 16 minutes before the final whistle, Lautaro Martinez, who came on as a substitute after an hour of the match, removed all questions about the outcome of the meeting. The Argentine got the ball away from the opponent's goal on the left flank. Despite this, the striker, surrounded by three rivals, moved to the penalty area, and from 25 meters shot into the far corner with a rebound from the lawn. Alex Meret played not in the best way in this episode, who was clearly not ready for such a shot. Martinez, with 14 goals, climbed to a clear 11th place in the Serie A.