Atalanta 1 - 2 SPAL: Bottom side's shock comeback sinks Atalanta

Bottom of the table SPAL caused one of the upsets of the season, fighting back from a Josip Ilicic back-heel flick to beat Atalanta 2-1 in Bergamo.

La Dea needed a win to keep up with Roma in fourth place, but had Hans Hateboer suspended and Timothy Castagne injured, so moved Marten de Roon wide right, but Mattia Caldara made his Serie A ‘debut’ for Atalanta after 18 dismal months with Milan. SPAL were propping up the table, with Dias Felipe, Marco D’Alessandro and Mohamed Fares injured, but started new buy Bryan Dabo and ex-Atalanta men Andrea Petagna and Arkadiusz Milik.

A home victory was expected, as the last two visitors to the Gewiss Stadium – Milan and Parma – emerged with 5-0 thrashings.

The first fingertip save was from Marco Sportiello, pushing a long-range Gabriel Strefezza strike round the upright.

Etrit Berisha rushed off his line to stop Remo Freuler finishing a strong run, but on the counter-attack Dabo tried to roll back across for Mattia Valoti rather than score from the edge of the box.

Josip Ilicic broke the deadlock with a cheeky finish, his back-heel flick from five yards on a Duvan Zapata ball across from the left. It was Atalanta’s 50th Serie A goal in 20 games.

It remained surprisingly open, as Ilicic hit the side-netting, Dabo stung Sportiello’s gloves from distance and Reca’s angled drive was charged down.

Duvan Zapata was unlucky not to get back on the scoresheet after a long lay-off, as he burst down the right and his rising strike from a tricky angle smacked against the woodwork.

Reca hit a half-volley wide off the outside of his boot, but Petagna came so close just before half-time, his twisting, swerving header bouncing off the far post with Sportiello beaten.

Jose Luis Palomino had to take one for the team after the restart, lunging in on Strefezza after an error had sent him running towards goal from midfield.

The equaliser was in the air and it arrived thanks to two ex-Atalanta players. Reca flew down the left to reach the by-line, pulled back and Petagna had peeled away from the two remaining defenders to tap in. Petagna has now scored in all four Serie A games against Atalanta since leaving the club.

SPAL almost turned it around moments later, Thiago Cionek’s header wide from a free kick. That was only a warning, because the bottom club did take the lead in Bergamo.

Mattia Valoti dribbled forward from midfield, rode a couple of tackles and smashed a daisy-cutter into the near bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Duvan Zapata should’ve made it 2-2 immediately, but fired straight at Berisha one-on-one, then Mario Pasalic tried to take an extra touch when he should’ve volleyed.

Pasalic had another big chance moments later, sent clear and cutting back to commit defenders, only to see his finish blocked by an acrobatic Simone Missiroli interception.

Another Duvan Zapata header was off target, along with the Marten de Roon volley, then Berat Djimsiti’s header was cleared almost off the line by Missiroli.

It turned into a siege on Berisha’s goal, Duvan Zapata’s shot charged down and the Ilicic rebound deflected for the goalkeeper to scramble it under control.

Nenad Tomovic showed bravery to charge down a Ruslan Malinovskyi screamer with his face, then Berisha made a fingertip save on Duvan Zapata at the near post in stoppages.

SPAL held on for the shock victory that pulls them up to joint 18th place with Brescia. A member of the Atalanta staff was sent off for dissent before the final whistle.