Atalanta completed the comeback from a Hassane Kamara goal to beat Udinese 2-1 and temporarily go top of the Serie A table with a sixth straight win, but injuries are piling up too.
La Dea were coming off the 3-0 away to leaders Napoli, and won 2-0 in Stuttgart in the Champions League midweek too. Charles De Ketelaere and Sead Kolasinac joined Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca on the absentee list, so Lazar Samardzic started against his old club. The Friulani got Isaak Toure back from suspension, but Alexis Sanchez, Thomas Kristensen and Gerard Deulofeu were still injured.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was end to end early on, as Maduka Okoye got down to push away the Mario Pasalic cross-shot, then Udinese immediately countered forcing Marco Carnesecchi into a double save on Sandi Lovric and Keinan Davis.
Atalanta had the ball in the net on 13 minutes when Matteo Ruggeri’s snapshot was parried into the path of Mateo Retegui to nod in, but it was disallowed as Ademola Lookman got the final touch while offside.
Martin Payero had a huge opportunity soon after, his ferocious right-foot curler smacking against the crossbar.
Carnesecchi also got down to fingertip the scuffed Florian Thauvin finish round the base of the near post. The Udinese man slipped in the process and clattered into Berat Djimsiti, adding to the injury problems, so Marten de Roon had to drop into defence.
Moments later, Davis had a goal disallowed for his push in the back on De Roon, a move that probably wouldn’t have been punished if left to VAR.
A clearance ricocheted between Udinese teammates Jaka Bijol and Kamara to risk a bizarre own goal. There was a double Atalanta chance on the stroke of half-time from a Samardzic corner, as first Okoye parried the Odilon Kossounou header, then Bijol made a desperate block to stop the Retegui tap-in.
The deadlock was broken in first half stoppages, as Davide Zappacosta nursing an injury was unable to keep up with Hassane Kamara down the left flank, giving him the time and space to thump a screamer into the far top corner from outside the box.
Thauvin had a double chance after the restart, his first parried by Carnesecchi, then a lob over the empty net as the goalkeeper got down to anticipate Davis.
Instead, Atalanta equalised with a well-worked move started by Samardzic, as Raoul Bellanova rolled across from the right for Mario Pasalic to sweep into the roof of the net first-time from 12 yards with the inside of the right boot.
The game was turned on its head within five minutes, as another Bellanova cross from the right was accidentally deflected into his own net by Toure during a misguided attempt at a block.
Marco Brescianini scuffed a finish off target with his weaker foot from a promising position, but after Djimsiti and Zappacosta, Nicolò Zaniolo was also forced off with an injury when feeling a muscular twinge.
Atalanta 2-1 Udinese
Kamara 45 (U), Pasalic 56 (A), Touré og 61 (A)
Player statistic
| 45+3' |  |
Hassane Kamara (Assist: Florian Thauvin) |
| Mario Pasalic (Assist: Raoul Bellanova) |
|
56' | ||
| Isaak Touré |  |
60' | ||
| 84' |  |
Isaak Touré | ||
| Ademola Lookman | |
90+1' |
Match statistic
