Dea push Hellas into trouble

Atalanta came back from an early goal to push Verona further into relegation trouble with Davide Zappacosta, Rasmus Hojlund and a gift for Mario Pasalic.

There was plenty at stake at the Gewiss Stadium, as La Dea slipped down to seventh place after two consecutive defeats and Hellas were sucked back into the drop zone. The Curva Nord was closed after racist abuse at Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic.

Duvan Zapata joined Hans Hateboer, Matteo Ruggeri, Jose Luis Palomino, Brandon Soppy and Jeremie Boga on the absentee list, though Ademola Lookman was available after several weeks out. Verona missed Kevin Lasagna, Ondrej Duda, Thomas Henry, Pawel Dawidowicz and Ajdin Hrustic.

Darko Lazovic fired wide of the near post and the hosts did not recognise the danger, conceding moments later after again giving the ball away cheaply. Lazovic sprung the offside trap on a Filippo Terracciano slide-rule pass and scored from a tight angle. Atalanta had penalty appeals rejected for a potential Isak Hien handball, while Rasmus Hojlund and Luis Muriel had shots deflected for corners.

It was Davide Zappacosta who equalised, cutting inside from the left and unleashing a right-foot scorcher into the far bottom corner from distance. Fabio Depaoli had to haul down Joakim Maehle just outside the box after an inspired Hojlund flick, then Lorenzo Montipò fingertipped the Hojlund header round the upright.

Atalanta turned it around after a nightmare howler from Montipò, who tried to dribble Mario Pasalic inside his own penalty area, got it wrong and allowed a goal into the empty net. Hojlund extended the advantage with a solo left-foot strike from distance, as Hien gave him a yard of space and the Dane took full advantage.

Depaoli and Simone Verdi had a few acrobatic attempts, but Verona had two massive chances in quick succession late on. First, Ibrahim Sulemana unleashed a screamer from distance that bounced off the crossbar, then moments later Adolfo Gaich pounced on a poor Giorgio Scalvini back-pass and prodded his finish onto the upright of an open goal. The Hellas goalkeeper also stuck out a limb to deny Ederson after dribbling through a crowd of players.