Atalanta 0 – 1 Sampdoria

Sampdoria have miraculously maintained their winning start to the season, with a narrow victory over a very unfortunate Atalanta side that remain without a point.

Sampdoria were down to 10 men before a well struck goal from Daniele Mannini and some fine saves by Luca Castellazzi and the home teams goalposts, dealt a cruel loss to the Bergamo side who certainly deserved at least a draw.

The sides played an open and entertaining first half but entered the break with scores still locked at 0-0. Early in the second term, Sampdoria had midfielder Tissone sent off for a second bookable offence. Del Neri resisted the temptation to bring a forward off, while Atalanta went on the attack. At the other end however, a counter attacking Antonio Cassano – in scintillating form – drew six defenders and fed the ball across to Mannini, left un-marked on the edge of the box by the transfixed Atalanta defence. The Left-winger made it two goals from two starts with a delightful curling shot that split two covering defenders before sliding past the keeper and inside the far post.

Del Neri made his move soon after and took off the goal-scorer, replacing him with the more defensively minded Reto Zeigler, but kept two upfront. Persisting with two strikers even after the second change when he swapped Pazzini for fresh signing Nicola Pozzi. Only when Cassano came off in the 85th minute did he relinquish his attacking objective, bringing on youngster Poli in mid-field.

In the ensuing avalanche of attacks, Atalanta hit the post twice and saw the Sampdoria keeper save everything else, handing the home team it’s third straight 1-0 loss while Sampdoria march alongside Juventus on top of the table with a full quota of 9 points.

Doc