Cagliari v Atalanta: the brain-teaser

After two consecutive home games it's time to even out the "home-Away" column: on Saturday 14/12 the Nerazzurri will set sail to Cagliari to get back into league commitments after their Tuesday Champions League night. Get ready for our Serie A Enilive MD16 with our pre-game quiz.

Who scored our first Serie A goal at the Unipol Domus?

While Atalanta's very first goal in Cagliari's new home fief came courtesy of Zapata (namely, the opener in our 2-0 win back in the 2018/19 season), it's equally true that it came about during a Coppa Italia game. Richmond Boakye is instead the last Atalanta scorer in the former Sant'Elia venue: it was the Ghanian striker who made the temporary 2-0 for Atalanta in the eventual Orobic 1-2 victory on MD2 of the 2014/15 season (Estigarribia was instead tasked with breaking the deadlock).

Likewise, while Atalanta's first Serie A goal in the new red-and-blue stadium bears Hateboer's signature, with the Dutchman leaving his headed mark on castagne's cross to sew up the match-win in our 1-0 triumph back in the 2018-2019 campaign, Hans found his scoring ways at the then "Sardegna Arena", namely the stadium's previous naming before the summer of 2021.

Moving from one Cafetero to another, Luis Muriel is the Nerazzurro Serie A topscorer in the Casteddu's coliserm having netted twice to secure Atalanta's 0-1 wins in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns.

With our usual red herring out of the way, the name of the game is none other than Mario Pašalić: to the Croatian mid we owe our first Serie A goal at the Unipol Domus, namely the opener in our MD12 1-2 win back in the 2021/22 season.

Which outcome never went down on Saturday?

On Saturday the Nerazzurri will be bound for Cagliari for their 42nd Sardinian outing in all ocpetitions. Out of the whole tally, the matchup taking place on December 14 will be but the third-ever "sabbatical" clash being the WE off in Sardinian a rather Sunday occasion with 32 previous encounter (with Monday and Wednesday, on par with 4 games each, and our only Thursday tie completing the picture). How about the breakdown, though?

While the hosts ran out winners from our first-ever Saturday on-the-road (a 3-1 victory with Salvori on the scoresheet for the Nerazzurri, back in the 1966/67 season), Round 2 turned out dandy for the Orobic side as it culminated in the aforementioned 1-2 black-and-blue triumph courtesy of Pašalić and Zapata. Thus, the last outcome standing is no other than a draw.

Zortea, Adopo, Piccoli: who played the most games for Atalanta?

Nadir Zortea, Michel Adopo and Roberto Piccoli, these were the three former Nerazzurri who swapped the black stripes with the red hues in the latest summer transfer window. Which one played the most game for Atalanta, though?

Having sorted them in ascending order, the first name on the list is Adopo, who racked up 11 appearances (10 Serie A games and 1 Europa League match) during his one-season stint in Bergamo. The silver medal goes to Roberto Piccoli instead: after rising through the ranks of the black-and-blue Academy in his 6-year tenure in Zingonia (namely between 2014 and 2020), the 2001s-born striker ended up playing 15 games (scoring 1 goal inthe meantime) throughout the course of his double spell with the Orobic side.

The baton goes to another former Academy up-and-comer, having spent in Zingonia 5 years with the exception of a term in Vicenza in between): Nadir Zortea! With 17 appearances to his name, the wingback native of Feltre is thus the winner of this Arather peculiar triangular tournament.

Travelling the opposite route, Sulemana was the former Red-and-blue to have joined Atalanta instead: ibefore moving to Bergamo this summer the Ghanian midfielder donned Cagliari's shirt on 24 occasions across all competitions.

Fifth player to have traded sides this summer, José Palomino joined the Casteddu outfit as a free agent instead after donning the Orobic crest for a total of 225 games (scoring 9 goals, among those the one netted against his curren tside in the 2021/22 season, and providing 5 assists) during the 7 years he spent in Bergamo.