Atalanta shocked by Bologna as Cremonese earn rare victory against relegation rivals Samp
Atalanta 0 Bologna 2
Second half strikes from Nicola Sansone and Riccardo Orsolini was enough to claim victory and pull Bologna within five points of sixth placed Atalanta, earning their first win in Bergamo since 2009 in the process.
Old friends Gian Piero Gasperini and Thiago Motta meet as managerial foes for the fourth time in Bergamo, having played under the experienced Italian in Genoa.
On the previous three occasions, Motta failed to claim a single point in what looked on paper an uphill battle with only one win for the away side in 14 meetings.
That being said, it was Greek loanee Giorgos Kyriakopoulos who came closest to breaking the deadlock as he rifled a shot from distance, but unfortunately for him Juan Musso saw it all the way and saved well.
La Dea looked somewhat lacklustre during the first half, but sprung into action when Rasmus Hojlund burst through on goal. After five goals in two during the latest International break, Norway look to have uncovered another striking gem, but back on domestic duty his first and second efforts were saved well by Lukasz Skorupski.
With a hand in all three goals in the one-sided victory over Udinese last time out, former Atalanta man Musa Barrow was out to stick the knife into his old boss in another returning subplot.
Shortly after the interval, an intricate one-two saw Barrow slip in Sansone who made no mistake in sweeping the ball beyond Musso for only his second Serie A goal this season and a first since January.
Motta’s defensive instincts set in looking to hold out to a slender lead, which saw the home side without a shot on goal in the second half until the 70th minute, as Hojlund’s eyes lit up from an inviting Jeremie Boga cross.
The forward did everything right in heading the ball down into the ground, but Skorupski was again equal to it despite initially fumbling.
Late on Orsolini thought he had wrapped up the win when tapping home on the rebound, only to be flagged offside after an exuberant celebration. He did then overcome the embarrassment late on to fire home Bologna’s second.
Flashscore Player of the Match: Musa Barrow (Bologna)
Check out all the stats with Flashscore.
Sampdoria 2 Cremonese 3
Cremonese registered their first Serie A away win since March 1996, coming from behind twice to defeat Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and give themselves a fighting chance of avoiding this season’s wooden spoon.
With no team in the top-five European leagues having collected fewer victories on home turf than Sampdoria, it was unsurprising to see Dejan Stankovic’s men initially err on the side of caution, especially against a relegation-bound Cremonese side with practically nothing to lose.
But one breakaway was all the Ligurians needed to draw first blood, as a venomous counter on the quarter-hour mark saw Tommaso Augello sear down the very edge of the left flank and put a cross into the area that Mehdi Leris headed in at point-blank range.
Cremonese showed only sporadic signs of getting back into this clash of basement boys at first. But there was to be a sting in the tail just over 10 minutes before hlaf time, when lax defending allowed Giacomo Quagliata to burst through the Sampdoria line and into the box.
He flighted a ball to the far post, where it was met by Paolo Ghiglione, and his well-improvised shot-cum-knockdown bounced off the turf and in via Nicola Ravaglia’s far post to level the scores.
Sampdoria emerged strongly after the break, and a carbon copy of the first goal saw Sampdoria retake the lead just after the hour mark.
Once again, Augello did all the leg work, pounding down the left flank and again finding the bullseye - on this occasion, the head of substitute Sam Lammers - ensuring that Marco Carnesecchi would once more be bested by a centre-goal header from just a matter of yards.
Having now added to their pre-match league high of 12 goals conceded to opposition substitutes, Cremonese tried in vain to hit two equalisers in an away match for the first time since November.
And in the 85th minute, they did just that, when a Cyriel Dessers cutback - which was nearly level with the hosts’ goalmouth - allowed Lochoshvili to chest in a landmark equaliser for his maiden Serie A goal after arriving last summer.
But it would get better still, and Cremonese finally gave their current generation of fans a road win to celebrate, as Leonardo Sernicola marauded into the area and fired in an unstoppable shot in off the far post to spark rapturous scenes in the away dugout.
While this result is likely to just drag Sampdoria down into Serie B with Cremonese, the visitors will avoid the humiliation of going winless on the road, while Sampdoria lost a fourth straight Serie A home game against newly-promoted opposition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luka Lochoshvili (Cremonese)