If Atalanta has extended his unbeaten streak to 14 Serie A games, the future opponent of PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League has somewhat marked time, this Saturday, conceding the draw on the Hellas Verona pitch (1-1). With this point, Atalanta joined Inter Milan in second place, six lengths from the leader Juventus. In a day which will see the teams at the top of the table face each other, Inter must still play against AS Roma (5th) on Sunday, before the Juventus-Lazio Rome (4th) clash on Monday.
After having seen Atalanta chain 10 victories, a series only interrupted by a draw on the field of Juventus (2-2), the Parisians may have been reassured by this slightly less brilliant part from the Bergamasques . The Hellas has had a good season (9th) and it was felt that the afternoon would be complicated for the men of Gian Piero Gasperini against those of Ivan Juric, ex-player and ex-assistant to the coach of the 'Atalanta.
Zapata still as effective
In fact, the "Dea" suffered, perhaps a little physically damaged and handicapped by the very small match of its captain and offensive inspirer "Papu" Gomez. Just after the break, Atalanta had all the same taken advantage of an error from the yet solid defense of Verona to open the scoring by Zapata (50th), author of his 17th goal of the season. But Verona quickly equalized by Pessina, a player ... loaned by Atalanta (1-1, 59th).
At the end of the match, the Bergamasques, still deprived of Ilicic, in search of good physical condition, had several opportunities to win. But they did not manage them very well, perhaps for lack of freshness and lucidity.