Atalanta U23 2-3 Virtus Verona
Cisse and Italeng the first historic goalscorers for the U23s
Matchday 1 of the 2023/24 Serie C (Group A) saw Atalanta U23 suffer a bitter defeat in their maiden match in the competition as Virtus Verona imposed themselves 3-2 at the "Città di Gorgonzola" stadium.
After a lively start with both teams having a good chance each in the opening seconds, Atalanta eventually took the lead in the 15th minute with Cisse, who, after receiving Bonfanti's pass, slotted the ball in with a swift twist-shot. In the 20th minute, a great save by Sibi, Virtus Verona's goalkeeper, denied Sidibe the goal after Bonfanti's sally. Virtus Verona found the equalizer right at the eleventh hour, as Casarotto slotted his freekick into the top corner in the 45th.
Atalanta opened the second half on the offensive, with Sibi warding off Cortinovis' shot from outside the box on the 50th minute. While in the 61th minute Virtus Verona turned the match around once again with Casarotto, Atalanta got one man down in the 63rd minute as Palestra was shown his second yellow card of the match. In the 76th the away team made it 3-1 with Manfrin scoring from a free-kick. Despite being one man down, Atalanta U23 never tossed in the towel and halved the gap in the 92nd minute with Italeng doing it all by himself: converting the penalty he earned. In the 94th Italeng once again got past Sibi but the goal was disallowed due to a rather strict offside. The last chance of the game came in the 96th minute as Solcia header flew too much towards the centre of the goal.
ATALANTA U23 2-3 VIRTUS VERONA
Scorers: Cisse (A) 15; Casarotto (VV) 45 and 61; Manfrin (VV) 76; Italeng (A) 92 (penalty).
Atalanta Under 23: Vismara, Palestra Mendicino, Bonfanti (Ghislandi 74), Cisse, Solcia, Sidibe (Di Serio 56), Ceresoli, Masi, Cortinovis (Mallamo 56), Awua (Italeng 71). Unused subs: Gelmi, Avogadri, Del Lungo, Berto, Vavassori, Regonesi, Colombo, Bernasconi, Chiwisa. Coach: Francesco Modesto.
Virtus Verona: Sibi, Mazzolo (Ntube 81), Cellai, Casarotto (Menato 84), Danti, Zarpelloni (Manfrin 67), Gomez (Toffanin 67), Metlika, Faedo, Cabianca, Demirovic (Nalini 46). Unused subs: Zecchin, Voltan, Mehic, Begheldo, Zigoni, Lodovici, Ambrosi. Coach: Luigi Fresco.
Referees: Gabriele Totaro from Lecce (assistant referees Daniele De Chirico from Molfetta and Francesco Festa from Barletta, 4th Official Antonino Costanza from Agrigento).
Notes: Palestra (A) sent off in the 63rd minute after being shown two yellow cards; booked Awua (A), Solcia (A), Mazzolo (VV), Mallamo (A), Danti (VV).