Atalanta secured an important draw in the Europa League’s last 16 tie against Sporting Lisbon.
The 1-1 draw gives La Dea the edge in the penultimate week, hoping to produce a performance that will provide them with the last eight ticket.
The Leões went into the tie on good form, having picked up four wins in their last five matches, including an 8-0 thrashing of Casa Pia, while the Bergamo outfit has been in a spell of poor form in recent weeks, failing to secure a win in their last three league matches. They lost to Bologna and Inter and played a draw against Milan.
This is the third meeting between both sides this season. La Dea picked up a 1-1 draw at home and edged out a 2-1 win away.
Sporting opened the goals account in the 18th minute via a quick counter. Paulinho burst down the left and pushed into the box before guiding his shot past Musso to make it 1-0.
Holm fired a shot, which unfortunately ricocheted off after a nice burst into the box, while Scamacca also hit the post moments later with a long shot.
Another great chance came the visitor’s way after a great header across the six-yard box from Rugger, but Scamacca was too slow to take advantage of it.
They finally restored parity as Scammacca punished Sporting for a mess at the back from Sporting. They gifted the Italian striker gifts, and he was calm enough to poke the ball into the back of the net.
Scamacca got another chance after peeling away from his marker as the corner flew in, and his header was just barely pushed wide.
Lookman, who scored last weekend, slipped into space in the penalty area, but his shot unluckily ricocheted off the post.
The woodwork will also later deny Sporting from making it two after a firm header from Coates was destined to go in before it bounced off the post.
Atalanta wasted another opportunity when a leaping Sead Kolasinac met a fantastic ball from Ederson, but his header went just wide.
They got the ball into the net late in the game this time around, but VAR chalked it off as offside. Substitute El Bilal Toure broke past the Sporting defense, scoring with a back fleet. The goal won’t stand as he was offside from the first move.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
