Atalanta continue Champions League bid with Monza win

Atalanta kept up their bid for Champions

League football with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Monza on Sunday, fresh from
knocking Liverpool out of Europe.

Charles De Ketelaere’s header just before half-time and a beautifully taken
finish from El Bilal Toure in the 72nd minute moved Atalanta to within one
point of fifth-placed Roma, who host fellow Champions League-chasers Bologna
on Monday evening.

A top-five finish in Serie A guarantees a spot in next season’s Champions
League thanks to Italian clubs’ strong performances in continental
competition.

Atalanta reached the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday in one of the
biggest nights in the club’s history, and played with confidence at the U-
Power Stadium despite Gian Piero Gasperini making a clutch of changes from
the team that eliminated Liverpool.

On Wednesday Atalanta try to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of
their Italian Cup semi-final with Fiorentina, who won 2-0 at rock-bottom
Salernitana earlier in the day.

“We have to keep improving,” said Gasperini to DAZN.

“We’ve had some fantastic results this season but in terms of play and
development we have plenty of room for improvement.”

Neither of Sunday’s goalscorers started midweek, with Toure netting his
second goal of the season in his first start since signing for Atalanta in
July.

Mali forward Toure became Atalanta’s record signing when he was bought for 30
million euros plus add-ons from Almeria.

But he has been restricted to substitute appearances after suffering a
serious knee injury in August, only returning to action in February.

However mid-table Monza nearly snatched a point at the last as Daniele
Maldini netted an impressive long-range effort in the 89th minute before
seeing a similar effort deep in stoppage time hit the inside of the post,
roll agonisingly across the goalline and out of play.

“Evidently we’ve not learned anything. It’s happened in other matches this
season and we’ve lost points,” added Gasperini, whose team dropped two points
last weekend against Verona after going two goals ahead.

Lecce took a huge leap towards safety from relegation with a thumping 3-0 win
at Sassuolo who are at risk of losing their 11-year tenure as a top-flight
club.

Lecce are 13th, seven points above the bottom three after a second straight
win against direct rivals for the drop which came through early goals from
Valentin Gendrey and Patrick Dorgu and Roberto Piccoli’s 61st-minute strike.

On Monday night Inter Milan will try to win their 20th Serie A title by
beating local rivals AC Milan in a hotly-anticipated local derby. (BSS/AFP)