Atalanta took over the third place in the Serie A from Juventus on Sunday. A mutual duel seemed to end in a goalless draw, but a late goal by Ruslan Malinovsky won Atalanta 1-0. Juventus had to do without Cristiano Ronaldo due to a muscle injury. Atalanta now has two points more than Juventus; number five Napoli can reach the level of Juventus in points on Sunday evening, but must then win at home against leader Internazionale.
Atalanta – Juventus 1-0
Juventus had won only one of the previous six official matches against Atalanta and this time also had the old lady certainly not an easy afternoon. Halfway through the first half, Atalanta was close to the opening goal. Matteo Pessina needed a little too much time in the penalty area, so Matthijs de Ligt was just able to change his direction. On the other side, Berat Djimsiti narrowly removed a bet by Álvaro Morata for the line, after goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini had already been beaten.
Ruslan Malinovsky hurts Juventus in the end of the match ??
At a win, Atalanta climbs to third place ??#ZiggoSport #SerieA #AtalantaJuve pic.twitter.com/jOrjRHeYCX
– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) April 18, 2021
In the first phase after the break, Atalanta had a lot of ball possession and the home team was looking for an opening. After less than an hour, a serious chance followed for Luis Muriel, whose turning cross just sailed off the wrong side of the post. Twenty minutes before time, Duván Zapata nodded wide. The game seemed to end without goals, but three minutes before the end of regular time, Malinovsky decided otherwise. The substitute, who ran up against Wojciech Szczesny a minute earlier, received the ball outside the penalty area and lashed out; through the body of Alex Sandro the ball ended up behind the goalkeeper. At Atalanta, Marten de Roon participated for ninety minutes and Sam Lammers sat on the bench.
Lazio – Benevento 5-3
Lazio opened the scoring in the tenth minute, when midfielder Fabio Depaoli inadvertently slipped the ball behind his own goalkeeper in an attempt to foil a shot opportunity for Ciro Immobile. Ten minutes later, Immobile made it 2-0 after being served by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in the penalty area and finishing coldly. Joaquín Correa made it 3-0 from a penalty after a foul by goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo on himself and with that the match seemed decided. Benevento made it very exciting, however, and started the comeback just before half-time, when Marco Sau made it 3-1 with a placed shot from the edge of the penalty area in the right corner.
The second half started with an own goal from Montipo, who got a cross from Correa to his heel, which increased Lazio’s score to 4-1. Montipo seemed to be playing an unfortunate game, but shortly afterwards parried a penalty from Immobile. Benevento then also received a penalty kick: Adam Marusic committed a foul on Artur Ionita and Nicolas Viola took advantage of the next opportunity. Gianluca Lapadula appeared to make it 4-3 from a header, but in the eyes of the arbitration Immobile committed a foul on Luca Caldirola and so the goal was disallowed. It still became 4-3 via Kamil Glik, who headed from a corner, and in the sixth minute of injury time Immobile determined the final score at 5-3. Shortly before that, Wesley Hoedt had come on for Lazio.