Serie A | Atalanta 2-1 Sassuolo: Dea get first success under Sarri

Atalanta earned their first victory under coach Maurizio Sarri by beating Sassuolo 2-1 with Giacomo Raspadori and Nikola Krstovic goals.

La Dea were a little anxious after the disappointing 0-0 first leg draw with Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the Conference League play-off, confirming difficulty in adapting to Sarri’s tactics. Thomas Kristensen suffered an injury in that game too, joining Isak Hien, Honest Ahanor and Kamaldeen Sulemana on the treatment table.

Alberto Aquilani’s Sassuolo missed Domenico Berardi, Andrea Pinamonti, Sebastian Walukiewicz, Daniel Boloca, Edoardo Pieragnolo, Fali Cande and Ismael Kone after a 3-0 Coppa Italia victory over Cesena.

It took just six minutes to break the deadlock, as Cinquegrano failed to clear effectively, so Gianluca Gaetano sent Giacomo Raspadori through for a rocket of a finish off the underside of the crossbar against his hometown club.

Kieron Bowie fired over from close range on a Josh Doig pull-back, and Nicola Zalewski forced a fingertip save from Arijanet Muric at the near post.

Davide Zappacosta’s rising strike clipped the top of the bar on the counter-attack, while Armand Laurienté saw a screamer palmed out from under the crossbar, then Marco Carnesecchi was alert on the Vasilije Adzic dinked finish.

Cristian Volpato also stung Carnesecchi’s gloves at the near post, then after the restart Cinquegrano prevented Raspadori tapping in the Zappacosta pull-back from six yards.

Muric got down to push the Ederson daisy-cutter round the upright, but Sassuolo got their equaliser. Josh Doig’s long throw-in was flicked on by Odilon Kossounou, turning into an accidental assist for Cas Odenthal to nod in from close range.

Atalanta restored their advantage, as Macchioni flicked on the long Carnesecchi goal kick and it fell kindly for Nikola Krstovic, who pounced on the loose ball to drill home.

Lazar Samardzic’s curler flashed just wide, as did the Krstovic attempt, while Eljif Elmas made his Atalanta debut in the final stages.

Cinquegrano threatened a spectacular equaliser in stoppages, but his scissor-kick volley flashed wide of the back stick.

Atalanta 2-1 Sassuolo

Raspadori 6 (A), Odenthal 55 (S), Krstovic 65 (A)

23-08-2026 19:45

MatchDay 1

Player statistic

1st half

2nd half

Match statistic

56 Possession % 44

14 Total shots 22

7 Shots on target 8

4 Shots off target 9

3 Blocked shots 5

4 Corners 4

0 Offsides 1

9 Fouls 10

Atalanta

Sassuolo

Starting lineups

29 Marco Carnesecchi Goalkeeper

77 Davide Zappacosta Defender

42 Giorgio Scalvini Defender

47 Lorenzo Bernasconi Defender 71'

3 Odilon Kossounou Defender

13 Éderson Midfielder

70 Gianluca Gaetano Midfielder

8 Mario Pasalic Midfielder 60'

59 Nicola Zalewski Midfielder 60'

18 Giacomo Raspadori Attacker 82'

9 Gianluca Scamacca Attacker 60'

49 Arijanet Muric Goalkeeper

26 Cas Odenthal Defender

3 Josh Doig Defender

46 Simone Cinquegrano Defender

31 Tommaso Macchioni Defender 74'

7 Cristian Volpato Midfielder

50 Darryl Bakola Midfielder

18 Nemanja Matic Midfielder 74'

17 Vasilije Adžić Midfielder 64'

45 Armand Lauriente Attacker

9 Kieron Bowie Attacker

Substitutes

16 Raoul Bellanova Defender

15 Marten de Roon Midfielder

57 Marco Sportiello Goalkeeper

6 Ibrahim Sulemana Midfielder

95 Paolo Vismara Goalkeeper

49 Federico Cassa Midfielder

40 Relja Obric Defender

10 Lazar Samardžić Midfielder 60'

17 Charles De Ketelaere Attacker 60'

90 Nikola Krstovic Attacker 60'

23 Sead Kolasinac Defender 71'

99 Eljif Elmas Midfielder 82'

2 Filippo Missori Defender

20 Riccardo Ciervo Attacker

80 Stefano Turati Goalkeeper

8 Andrea Ghion Defender

44 Edoardo Iannoni Midfielder

77 Nicholas Pierini Attacker

30 Patrick Nuamah Midfielder

35 Luca Lipani Midfielder

21 Jay Idzes Defender

33 Rafa Obrador Defender

23 Alessandro Di Bitonto Defender

14 Gabriel Kulla Attacker

42 Kristian Thorstvedt Midfielder 64'

16 Fedde Leysen Defender 74'

25 Benja Domínguez Attacker 74'