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Simone Barone's flick proved enough to see off 10-man Atalanta.
The Granata are the draw specialists of Serie A with 16 out of 26 games ending in stalemates, including the last four on the trot. Marco Pisano sat out a ban and Alvaro Recoba struggled with fitness worries. Atalanta were eager for revenge after going 2-0 up only to be held 2-2 by 10-man Toro earlier this season. The Bergamo boys last lost here in the top flight back in September 1993, followed by three wins and a draw.
Alessandro Rosina's angled drive whistled past the far post, while Matteo Sereni blocked a Moris Carrozzieri header. David Di Michele was clear on goal and fired straight at the Atalanta goalkeeper in a fast and furious start to the match.
Cristiano Doni couldn't get enough power on to his header and Ferreira Pinto needed a goalline clearance to deny Aimo Diana.
Torino took the lead on 35 minutes. A corner kick found Roberto Stellone's header, but Simone Barone got the final touch to leave Ferdinando Coppola stranded.
This was the turning point, as less than a minute later Maximiliano Pellegrino was sent off for a tackle from behind on Di Michele, shown a straight red card.
Stellone went close with a header and Coppola did well to deny Barone, but Toro were wasting some promising counter-attacks against 10-man Atalanta.
Carrozzieri made a mistake in releasing Di Michele, but made up for it by stopping the Toro star with a well-timed tackle.
On 65 minutes Cristiano Doni's splendid curling shot from the edge of the box clipped the top of the crossbar with Sereni stranded.
Nikola Lazetic rolled across for Di Michele to skim the near post, then the former Palermo striker incredibly skipped past Coppola and hesitated, allowing a defender to clear off the line.
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