Atalanta came from behind twice to grab a hard earned point in Bergamo.  Two goals from Muslimovic repaid the manager's faith in the striker.  Fiorentina without Mutu played well but couldn't get a third to kill the game off. 

 

The Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia had a good crowd for this tough and vital clash of black and blue and purple.  The Orbici are tough at home and la Viola is hard to score against away.  Neither side has its best player on the field so understudies would have to step up and deliver. 

 

Gigi Del Neri, gauche and bespectacled, adopted a normal 4 4 2; strong defence, good width and a gamble on a less than prolific striker were his choices.

Coppola keeps goal with a back four of Rivalta, Pellegrino, Capelli and Manfredini.  Ferreira Pinto and Langella provided width with De Ascentis and Tissone providing the steel through the middle.  Floccari keeps his place and Muslimovic gets a rare start. 

 

Prandelli stayed with his usual 4 3 3.  Solid at the back with a good 'keeper, young talent in the midfield with a potent (not his best with Mutu absent) attacking combination.  Frey keeps goal with a back four of Ujfalusi (who is likely to leave on a free in June, Dianelli, Gamberini (freshly bolstered by his Azzurri call up) and Pasqual.  Donadel and Montolivo; they can tackle although the range of their passing is the key to la Viola's potent attack; work alongside the deeper lying Kuzmanovic in the middle.  Santana and Semioli operate wider and just behind the free scoring Pazzini. 

 

The first two chances in an open game involve fullbacks.  Manfredini gets forward and when things open up he gets ambitious with a volley from the left, Ujfalusi gets forward on the right and sends in a good cross only for Pazzini to head wide. 

Both teams operate from a strong defensive position, Atalanta rely on the width getting balls into the energetic strikers, who are all troublesome runs and flicks.  Fiorentina rely on the passing of Donadel and Montolivo from the centre out to the flanks and balls into the channels, the three pronged attack can pull the back four around a lot as well opening up dangerous spaces. 

Neither team is about sitting back though, the ball is always moved forward, Atalanta is more direct than the visitors. 

De Ascentis has to concentrate more on his tackling than his passing as Donadel is seeing a lot of the ball early on, his passing is allowing Fiorentina to dictate the play and apply pressure to the home side. 

Neither side can build up enough steam to create much in front of goal. 

Things are ebbing and flowing nicely when a flurry of plays unfold.  Muslimovic gets onto a Floccari flick and shoots wide, Manfredini gets a card and knock on the head from a Viola elbow, Santana gets to the byline and whips a good cross in; more dangerous than the crosses that have been coming from deeper.  Manfredini is replaced by Belleri, certainly feeling the after effects of an elbow to the temple.  The goal comes in short order with Donadel the creator, his ball picks out the run of Santana and the ball in finds Pazzini, the ex-Atalanta player takes a touch then spins and forces it past Coppola.

MUTED GOAL CELEBRATION FROM THE FORMER ATALANTA MAN

The Stadio momentarily fills with a horrible silencio. 

Within a minute the scores are level.  Fiorentina don't clear a corner and the ball back in from Belleri finds the unmarked Muslimovic who thunders the ball into the net.  Faith in his him by Del Neri is repaid. 

The flurry subsides and both sides resume a tactical battle of cut and thrust, quick balls over the top and last ditch challenges.  A couple of half chances go begging and Atalanta is gaining the upper hand with control of the midfield. 

 

Both sides come out as they went in. 

 

The attacking desire continues from the first whistle, half chances being created at either end as the temp is raised and the ball flies from end to end. 

The first moments of the second half belong to Atalanta, Langella and Pinto are full of running on the flanks and the simple passing of De Ascentis are allowing the Orbici to build up a head of steam. 

Donadel is focusing more on defence and Montolivo takes up the attacking duties, his astute and accurate passing hauls the balance back in to the game and slowly tips it towards la Viola. 

Santana makes the most of the ascendancy with a good ball down the right channel, Pazzini latches onto it and lays the ball out wide, without breaking stride Kuzmanovic crosses well and Semioli is on hand in the six yard box to head home.

SEMIOLO CELEBRATES WITH HIS TEAMMATES

Atalanta is nothing if not obdurate and a combination of tough tackling and hard running start to push Fiorentina back.  Langella and Kuzmanovic get involved in an off the ball incident, the veteran Atalanta players almost immediately makes way for Inzaghi; he's lucky to be able to be subbed as the incident with Kuzmanovic didn't seem to be picked up by the officials.  Kuzmanovic is replaced by the excellent simplicity and versatility of Jorgenson before the youngster's temper finds an outlet. 

A Muslimovic card for dissent seems to spark a feistier aspect to the already high adrenaline game, the tempo is increased as the home side tries all they can to get an equalizing goal.  Fiorentina are manfully handling the pressure without being pushed too deep, they also carry the threat of the counter attack. 

The quality of Doni is missed, Inzaghi has the ball taken away from him by Gamberini before he can pull the trigger and Belleri crosses poorly after skinning Ujfalusi on the byline. 

Fiorentina are professional, hard working as they try to slow the game down and earn all three points.  Vieri comes on for his ball holding ability and new Atlanta signing Paolucci is introduced to add some pace to the attack, with the change Del Neri's side move to a more attacking 4 3 3. 

The final few minutes provide a fitting end to a highly entertaining and well fought contest.  Vieri looks to run out time and heads to the byline, when the space opens up he whips in a great cross which sees Coppola leave his area to clear the ball, with the 'keeper well out of position Fiorentina cross tamely, Atalanta break with pace and gusto through Tissone, he finds Inzaghi who draws in the defence then lays the ball wide, the cross in is perfect for Muslimovic to slip behind his marker and stab home from six yards out.  The Stadio Atleti erupts thunderously and Del Neri is ecstatic.

TWO GOAL MAN OF THE MATCH IN RELAXED MOOD DURING TRAINING

 

Del Neri will be concerned at the goals but well pleased with his sides attacking and hard work, faith in Muslimovic has been repaid with two poacher's goals and a point from a game with a top four side is a decent result.  Del Neri is morphing Atalanta into a side that can challenge for a UEFA Cup place. 

 

Prandelli will rue his side's inability to keep a lead.  For most of the last twenty five minutes they handled Atalanta well and professionally, Vieri's cross almost led to a goal but had he just settled for the corner flag the three points would have been the visitors'.  His youthful side has a tough stretch in the next month or so which will make or break their season, maintaining a UEFA Cup challenge and staying in the top four are not too dissimilar to the challenges faced by Fiorentina's likely opponents if they make it through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. 

 

The commentator put it brilliantly - "Do they have the bottle to stay in fourth spot?  Today they have been shown to have a bit of a glass jaw."

 

The referee was OK.  Some of the calls that Atalanta didn't get seemed harsh but his bookings were all justified and he didn't see Langella and Kuzmanovic get shirty.  The trend in Italian officiating seems to be to let play go on. 

 

 

Atalanta:-

Coppola

Rivalta

Pellegrino

Cappeli

Manfredini (Belleri 26)

Ferreira Pinto

De Ascentis

Tissone

Langella (Inzaghi 66)

Floccari (Paolucci 76)

Muslimovic

 

Goals:-

Muslimovic 30, 91

 

Bookings:-

Tissone

Langella

Manfredini

Muslimovic

De Ascentis

 

 

Fiorentina:-

Frey

Ujfalusi

Dianelli

Gamberini

Pasqual

Kuzmanovic (Jorgenson 67)

Montolivo

Donadel

Santana

Pazzini (Vieri 73)

Semioli

 

Bookings:-

Ujfalusi

Montolivo

 

Goals:-

Pazzini 29

Semioli 60

 

 

Referee:-

De Marco

 

Images courtesy of ATALANTA.IT & ACFFIORENTINA.IT