|
Lucho Figueroa picked a great time to break his drought as Genoa fought back to win 2-1, but Atalanta hit the woodwork three times.
There was a sombre atmosphere just three days after Atalanta President Ivan Ruggeri was rushed to hospital with an aneurysm. He remained in a coma fighting for his life as the teams took to the field, so the Orobici were determined to stick together and focus on the task at hand. Cristiano Doni returned from his ban, but Moris Carrozzieri and Antonio Langella were suspended. Genoa had the wind in their sails after two wins on the trot, but lost Julio Leon to injury.
After five minutes Atalanta gave Rubinho quite a scare as Sergio Floccari unleashed a dipping effort from 20 metres that the goalkeeper thought was heading out, but the shot on the bounce cracked against the far post.
Doni's header was off target, as Atalanta were dominating the first half and were again unlucky not to open the scoring on 27 minutes. A magnificent curling free kick from Doni smacked against the crossbar and out, the woodwork once again rescuing Rubinho.
Genoa finally came out of their shells and Fabiano's chest and volley from the edge of the box was straight at Ferdinando Coppola.
Towards the end of the first half the Rossoblu seemed like a different team, pouring forward in waves. Cesare Bovo's spectacular volley from a set-piece skimmed the near post from seven yards.
Marco Borriello had a fantastic opportunity when he was put through clear on goal, but Coppola got down bravely for a point-blank save on the striker.
In stoppages Giuseppe Sculli clashed heads with Claudio Rivalta and the Atalanta defender got the worst of it, as he was stretchered off and replaced.
After the restart Genoa continued to have the upper hand, Sculli's trap and fierce strike smothered by an alert Coppola.
The goalkeeper outdid himself on 55 minutes with a truly stunning save, again on Sculli. A corner kick was touched on to find Sculli's diving free header at the back post from six yards, but Coppola flung himself at the ball to parry.
However, Abdoulay Konko foolishly tried to tackle Floccari as he ran into the box to catch a searching Guarente pass and brought him down for a penalty when other defenders were in wait to stop him. Doni stepped up and sent Rubinho the wrong way with a low drive to give Atalanta the lead.
The Orobici hit the back of the net for a second time soon after, but it was disallowed for offside. A corner kick was nodded back across the face of goal by Pellegrino and Floccari tapped in, but replays leave that decision in some doubt.
It proved decisive, as less than 30 seconds later Genoa equalised. Borriello sprung the offside trap on Marco Rossi's smart flick to smack a low right-foot angled drive past Coppola.
The game was now spectacular end to end stuff and Atalanta were cursing their luck once again. Rubinho got down brilliantly to prod Floccari's header off the line and Doni came sliding in to miss the ball for the tap-in by a matter of inches.
Figueroa's header was deflected out for a corner by Capelli and from the resulting set-piece Brazilian Figueroa's glancing header slotted into the far bottom corner.
Atalanta refused to give in, but were denied by the woodwork for a third time on Zlatan Muslimovic's header. Tempers were running high and Coach Gigi Del Neri was sent off for dissent.
| 
