Serie A: Atalanta beat Torino 2-1 courtesy of substitute Roberto Piccoli's late dramatic winner

Atalanta were under pressure for long periods, but poor defending by Torino allowed Roberto Piccoli to snatch a stoppage-time winner.

Atalanta beat Torino 2-1 in their Serie A opener on Saturday; Credit: Twitter/@Atalanta_BC
By Sreejith C R | Aug 22, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Substitute Roberto Piccoli scored deep in the injury time to secure victory for Atalanta at Torino on the opening day of the 2021-22 Serie A campaign on Saturday. The visitors got ahead early in the game through Luis Muriel’s brilliant strike. Although the home side pushed hard for the equalizer, they had to wait till the 79th minute as their talisman Andrea Belotti came off the bench to score a long ranger. Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Inter Milan started their title defence with a 4-0 thumping of Genoa at San Siro.

Muriel who had scored 22 Serie A goals last season, only behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku, scored from Atalanta’s first real attempt of the game. The Colombian cut inside from the right to get past Ricardo Rodriguez and fired in a stunning left-footed strike from the edge of the area to beat Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic- Savic.

At the other end, Bremer’s header was cleared off the line by Matttia Pessina and Ola Aina tested Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso at the near post with a powerful left-footer.

Torino captain Belotti who didn’t start the game because of a slight niggle, scored the equalizer from outside the box. The 27-year-old’s shot deflected off Joakim Maehle and looped over Musso into the far top corner.

Few moments later, Belotti ran onto a long ball and Musso came charging outside his penalty area, crashing into the Italian striker. Torino wanted a red card, but the referee opted for a yellow.

Torino pushed for the winner and looked more likely to score. But, at the other end, a poor Rodriguez clearance fell to Mario Pasalic, who while off balance somehow managed to set up Piccoli to tap in from five yards.

Inter Milan thrash Genoa 4-0

Inter Milan played like champions to demolish Genoa at home. Goals from Milan Skriniar, Hakan Calhanoglu, Arturo Vidal and Edin Dzeko gave the Nerazzurri’s the perfect start to the new Serie A campaign.

The home side opened the scoring through defender Skriniar in the 6th minute. The Slovak headed in from Calhanoglu’s corner. A few minutes later, the provider turned goalscorer as he drilled home a long-ranger after exchanging passes with fellow new signing Edin Dzeko.

Dzeko who Joined Inter from Roma this summer had an excellent debut up front. The Bosnia striker’s deflected shot hit the woodwork in the 24th minute and caused all sorts of problems to the Genoa defence with his physical prowess.

Inzaghi’s side continued to dominate and scored their third goal through Vidal in the 74th minute. Nicolo Barella set up the Chilean after Dzeko’s initial shot was saved by Salvatore Sirigu.

The Bosnian then finally got his deserved debut goal as he headed in from Vidal’s deep cross to complete the drubbing.

It was a much needed positive start for the champions as they had a difficult summer with financial problems leading to title winning coach Antonio Conte’s departure and the sale of star players Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi.





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