Samp come from behind against Atalanta to bag second win

Sampdoria continued their winning start to the Serie A season, beating Atalanta 2-1 despite falling behind.

On this warm August evening, there was a palpable sense of emotion among the crowd, as all in attendance paid their respects to the victims of Wednesday’s tragic events in central Italy.

Having kept his cards close to his chest before the game, Marco Giampaolo stuck with the same eleven players that earned last week’s win at Empoli.

The match got off to a frenetic start with Samp’s opponents forcing Viviano into a couple of early saves, from Gomez and Kurtic. At the other end, Muriel fired a shot just wide, following good work down the left.

After the game settled down momentarily, Atalanta took the lead on 27 minutes. When a free kick from the left led to a scramble in the box, Kessie was the first to react and produced a low finish, scoring his third goal in two games.

The Blucerchiati tried to hit back straight away and Muriel went closest, hitting the post with the keeper beaten all ends up.

Soon after, the Colombian broke into the area and was brought down by Raimondi, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty. Quagliarella, deadly as ever from the spot, sent the keeper the wrong way to level the scores.

After 42 minutes, things got worse for Atalanta as Carmona was given his marching orders, following a lunge on Linetty that earned him a second yellow card.

Samp made their numerical advantage count straight away. A cross from Muriel found Barreto in the penalty area and the Paraguayan’s header gave the hosts a 2-1 lead.

After the break, Gasperini’s side set up with a 4-4-1 formation and they did well to stay strong at the back in the second period.

Quagliarella and Muriel gave Zukanovic and his team-mates plenty to think about, but the scores remained unchanged.

The final whistle came after five minutes of stoppage time, with the Sampdoria faithful giving their heroes a standing ovation. Another victory for the Blucerchiati!

Sampdoria 2-1 Atalanta (HT: 2-1)

Scorers: Kessie 27; Quagliarella 35 (pen.), Barreto 45.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano; Sala, Silvestre, Regini, Pavlovic; Barreto (Fernandes 84), Torreira, Linetty; Alvarez (Praet 61); Muriel, Quagliarella (Budimir 74).

Subs not used: Puggioni, Krapikas, Dodo, Eramo, Pereira, Schick, Palombo, Cigarini, Skriniar.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Atalanta (3-5-2): Sportiello; Raimondi, Zukanovic, Masiello; D’Alessandro, Kessie, Carmona, Kurtic (Petagna 77), Spinazzola (Conti 59); Paloschi (Konko HT), Gomez.
Subs not used: Bassi, Mazzini, Gagliardini, Migliaccio, Fleuler, Caldara, Cabezas, Drame, Capone.
Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.

Referee: Doveri (Roma 1).
Assistants: Giallatini (Roma 2) and Del Giovane (Albano Laziale).
Fourth official: Ranghetti (Chiari).
Additional assistants: Gavillucci (Latina) and Serra (Torino).

Yellow cards: Carmona 21, Raimondi 34, Kessié 40, Kurtic 63, Gómez 85, Pavlovic 90+1.
Red card: Carmona 42.

Added time: 1 + 5 minutes.