ROME: Atalanta retained first place in Serie A on Saturday after escaping Lazio with a 1-1 draw, keeping Inter Milan at bay but ending their club-record league winning streak of 11 games.
Marco Brescianini poked home an open goal with two minutes remaining to salvage a draw at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, where a raucous crowd expected a big win.
Instead, Atalanta will end a historic year one point ahead of Inter, who have a game in hand, after the champions temporarily drew level on points with a 3-0 victory against Cagliari earlier in the season.
Even if Napoli defeats Venezia and draws level on 41 points with Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, who have a substantially higher goal difference than the 2023 winners, Atalanta will remain the league leaders.
If two teams finish tied at the top of Serie A at the end of the season, they will play a single match to decide the fate of the Scudetto, something Atalanta has never won.
“We struggled for long periods in the first half, but we were much better in the second,” stated Atalanta coach Gasperini.
“This year has been the best year in Atalanta’s history, let’s hope we can make 2025 the same.”
Atalanta shown great spirit in battling back after Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s 27th-minute goal, which came in a heated first period for Lazio.
Lazio pounced on the away side early on, with Marco Carnesecchi making two outstanding saves before Matteo Guendouzi blasted a wonderful strike off the post in the 11th minute.
But as the game progressed, Atalanta, who were missing injured star scorer Mateo Retegui, came into it and deservedly leveled in front of a boisterous and hostile crowd in the Italian capital.
Brescianini scored his third goal of the season, largely helped to Ademola Lookman, who compensated for earlier missed shots from distance by evading Lazio’s offside trap, meeting Nicolo Zaniolo’s looped pass, and rolling over to his teammate to save a point.
Next, Atalanta will go to Saudi Arabia for the Italian Super Cup, where they will meet Inter on Thursday.
Earlier, Lautaro Martinez broke an eight-match scoring drought at Cagliari, scoring the second in an exciting game in Sardinia that Inter won with two second-half goals from the Argentina striker, Alessandro Bastoni, and Hakan Calhanoglu.
Inter have won their past five games in Italy’s top division, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one, reestablishing them as favourites to reclaim the Scudetto.
The only thing lacking for Inter were goals from captain Martinez, who hadn’t scored since November 3rd before converting Nicolo Barella’s cross in the 71st minute on Saturday.
“The most important thing is that Inter wins.” “If I get a goal, it’s a bonus,” Martinez remarked.
“We work hard every day to win trophies, and anyone who steps onto the pitch will give their all for the team.” We only need to keep going and make 2025 like this year.”
Inter could have won by a larger margin if captain Martinez had not squandered excellent chances in both halves and Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet had not made outstanding saves to deny Marcus Thuram and Barella.
Martinez did, however, score his sixth goal of the season in all competitions, and Calhanoglu sealed the victory seven minutes later with a penalty.
Cagliari are just within the relegation zone after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat, trailing Verona and Como, both of whom play on Monday.
