Genoa v Atalanta, the brainteaser

After punching their ticket to next season's Champions League with a win over Roma at the Gewiss Stadium, the Nerazzurri are hitting the road for a Saturday away day. Next up, trip across the Apennines as Atalanta set sail to Genoa for their final trip of the season before wrapping up the 2024/25 campaign at home against Parma. Get ready for the showdown at the Griffin's den with our pre-match quiz!

What minute did El Bilal Touré score in last season’s clash?

Last season's clash will forever carry a special flavour for El Bilal Touré who, upon spending a spell on the sidelines due to a preseason injury, not only did he finally make his official debut in Atalanta colours but he also crowned it in the best possible way: with his first Nerazzurro goal. A strike that literally slammed the curtain down in a match defined by an uncannily long-winded Zona Cesarini.

So, let's get to the crux of the matter: when did "Le Dix" find the back of the net in Marassi?

Joining the fray in the 57th alongside Zappacosta and Miranchuk - completing the trio of "from zero to hero" subs who would have played an instrumental role in Atalanta's four-goal blitz in Genoa-, El Bilal came on with the Nerazzurri hustling one goal to the good as former Atalanta player Malinovskyi temporarily equalised for the hosts, cutting between two masterstrokes courtesy of De Ketelaere and Koopmeiners.

On 75 minutes, Atalanta stretched their lead thanks to Scalvini, quickest to pounce on Martinez's rebound... If not for VAR, which, following an almost theatrical delay, ruled out the goal due to a tight offside by Pašalić.

But as hinted earlier, it was in the dying embers (looking more like an extra time than stoppage time), when Atalanta truly came into their on piling it on in just over three minutes: in the 99th minute, Zappacosta pounced on a spilled shot from Miranchuk to bag the archetypal “goal of the ex”. Then, after being denied a goal himself, Lesha slipped into the wingman's robes at the very next opportunity: breaking on the counter, Pašalić slipped the ball for the 59, who floated a dink from a tight angle into the box for El Bilal. Rising highest, the Malian striker made it 4-1 with an impeccable header. Minute on the clock? 103rd.

Genoa 1-1 Atalanta, 2013/14 season: who scored the equaliser?

Sunday, December 15: with the Serie A MD16 setting the stage at the Ferraris, Genoa, then led by Gian Piero Gasperini - acting as an unbeknownst cicero to what would become his future team two seasons later - welcome Colantuono's Atalanta, on the lookout for results away from home to reverse a tough patch.

Off with a bang, fueled with that stifling pressing that would later become a hallmark of Atalanta's playing style in the years to come, the hosts drew a save from Consigli barely 2 minutes in before rattling the post with Antonelli in the 18th. Finding their feet at the half-hour mark, Atalanta responded with Denis (tipped behind for a corner in the 34th) and then Cigarini (whose free-kick hissed a whisker away from target at the threshold of the halftime whistle).

In the second half, the Nerazzurri picked up momentum, pushing higher up the pitch and nearly breaking the deadlock first with Lucchini and then with "El Tanque" in the 71st. Yet it was Genoa who gained the upper hand with Bertolacci, finding the net with a low-driven shot after a Gilardino layoff. Going all in, Colantuono brought on fresh legs in pursuit of the equaliser. A move that found the black-and-blue coach vindicated in the end: although the Rossoblù wall came off unscathed at first as De Luca (denied by Perin) and Scaloni couldn't find the chink, it was "The Mosquito" who stung the Griffin in the 94th minute, "going splits" on Cigarini's cross to seal the 1-1 draw.

When did Atalanta claim their first-ever win at Genoa?

While the Ferraris was the stage for Atalanta's first-ever historic away game back in the 1937/38 season of the then-called Divisione Nazionale (namely, the predecessor of today's Serie A), a debut outing that saw Ottaavio Barbieri's Atalanta share spoils with the Ligurian side at the end of a goalless draw, the Rossoblù stronghold would go on to become a rather stalwart ground for the Nerazzurri, who woudl have ended up suffering four straight losses following that opening draw. Points would then come by through back-to-back draws (a 2-2 result in the 1946/47 campaign, followed by a 1-1 draw the following season), with victory eluding the Orobic side twice more in the next two seasons. The breakthrough came on MD3 of the 1950/51 season, when Giovanni Varglien's side imposed themselves in Genova thanks to goals from Sorensen and Cergoli.