Atalanta hammer Monza for four
Courtesy of a double CDK, Lookman and Brescianini
Dealing a four-of-a-kind in Monza, Atalanta seize the U-Power Stadium in Monza with a 4-0 rout: while De Ketelaere bags a first-half brace, Lookman and Brescianini complete the haul in the second half of the game to take the Nerazzurri to 68 points, solidifying their third-place position.
The breakthrough came after twelve minutes: fed through by Retegui, De Ketelaere danced past two Monza defenders before slotting it past Pizzignacco at the near post with a finesse left-footer. The Nerazzurri skimmed the second in close succession, first with Retegui (in the 17th) and then with Lookman (in the 18th) before Monza gave tit for tat with Birindelli, whose angled drive flew wide. Then, in the 23rd, De Ketelaere left his mark once again to embellish his 100th Serie A appearance with a brace as he prodded the ball into the bottom corner with a pinpoint finish. Then, right before the break, Carnesecchi sprang into action to deny Caprari (36') and Akpa Akpro with key saves.
Starting the second half on the right foot, Lookman scored Atalanta's third of the evening with a composed finish in the mano-a-mano with Pizzignacco after sprinting onto Retegui's headed assist. On 55 minutes, Éderson went close with a glancing header that whistled past the post. Then Retegui followed up with a solo effort, sailing just wide. On 77 minutes, Carnesecchi pulled off a superb save to keep Forson's close-range header at bay. Then Maldini came close to the fourth in the 80th, when his effort got kept out by a timely save from the Monza keeper. And then in the 88th, Brescianini capped the game off by cleaving the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-0.
MONZA 0-4 ATALANTA
Scorers: De Ketelaere 12, 23 (A), Lookman 47 (A), Brescianini 88 (A).
Monza: Pizzignacco, Pereira (Forson 46), Caldirola (Brorsson 16), Palacios, Birindelli, Castrovilli (Lekovic 46), Bianco, Akpa Akpro, Kyriakopoulos (Ciurria 76), Caprari (Vignato 71), Mota. Unused Bench: Vailati, Mazza, Urbanski, Sensi, D'Ambrosio, Petagna, Martins, Colombo. Coach: Alessandro Nesta.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Kossounou (Toloi 46), Hien, Djimsiti (Cuadrado 76), Bellanova, de Roon, Éderson, Zappacosta, De Ketelaere (Pašalić 64), Retegui (Maldini 76), Lookman (Brescianini 80). Unused Bench: Rui Patrício, Rossi, Sulemana, Ruggeri, Samardžić. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Referee: Mr. Luca Pairetto from Nichelino;
Assistant referees: Giovanni Baccini from Conegliano and Alessio Berti from Prato;
Fourth official: Davide Di Marco from Ciampino;
V.A.R.: Davide Ghersini from Genova;
A.V.A.R.: Daniele Paterna from Teramo.
Notes: Palacios (M), Hien (A), Cuadrado (A) booked.