A hot Lazar Samardzic authorized Atalanta to finally break 10-man Bologna and snatch a point at the Stadio Dall’Ara, despite Santiago Castro’s opener.
Both teams were struggling with the combined pressures of Serie A and Champions League football, as well as a growing injury list. Vincenzo Italiano took his first victory last week at Monza, but missed out on Tommaso Pobega with Nicolò Cambiaghi, Oussama El Azzouzi and Lewis Ferguson. The Dea lost three of their five Serie A matches and Isak Hien added to the crisis with an adductor problem, missing alongside Rafael Toloi, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca.
Find out how it all went down on the LIVEBLOG.
Santiago Castro’s diving header went wide in the opening minutes and Riccardo Orsolini saw his shot saved by Berat Djimsiti when it should have passed for the striker.
Lukasz Skorupski produced a stunning reaction with his outstretched boot as Ademola Lookman was cleared by Charles De Ketelaere’s through ball.
Djimsiti had to make another decisive block on Castro as the offside trap failed, but there was more bad news for Atalanta as Marco Brescianini tripped during an attempt from six yards out and was injured on the back of the left thigh.
Lazar Samardzic came on as his replacement and immediately shot over the bar, but it was Bologna who took the lead 40 seconds after the restart.
Dan Ndoye’s through ball surprised Sead Kolasinac and Castro broke away from another challenge to drill into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.
However, Bologna self-destructed moments later when Jhon Lucumi was caught in possession and brought down De Ketelaere. Initially, the referee awarded a penalty, but when the VAR confirmed that the foul was outside the box, it automatically turned into a straight red card.
In the resulting free-kick routine, Lookman’s wayward shot turned into an assist for Raoul Bellanova to tip over the crossbar from close range. Lookman also broke through the near post from a corner, which turned into a siege against 10-man Bologna with little breakthrough, despite launching every available attacking player.
Martin Erlic charged in a check and volley from Mateo Retegui, while Lookman combined with Nicolò Zaniolo’s back-heel flick into the box to see his cross-shot just past Mario Pasalic at the far post.
Samardzic saw his daisy-cutter from the edge of the box hit the base of the near post, but moments later he tried again from the same spot and this time bent the left-footed curler into the far top corner. away to equalize.
Atalanta continued to press for victory, but Pasalic’s attempt was denied and Lookman drilled wide. On the last kick of the match, De Ketelaere failed to catch Lookman’s cross a few meters away and Juan Cuadrado volleyed home from a tricky angle.
Bologna 1-1 Atalanta
Castro 46 (B), Samardzic 90 (A)
Sent : Lucumi 51 (B)
