Despite a strong performance and a 1-1 draw with 15 minutes remaining, Cagliari lost 2-1 to Atalanta. Gaetano wasn't enough: Scamacca scored a brace, and he was also lucky on the second goal.
The first real chance came in the 7th minute, when De Ketelaere played Lookman on the center-left side of the box. The Nigerian outpaced Zappa and found Caprile on his shot, but the Atalanta striker's second effort went wide. But Bergamo took the lead with their next attempt: in the 11th minute, Lookman found Zappa and crossed to the far post, where he found Zappacosta, whose shot was back-heeled into the net by Scamacca .
In the 20th minute, the huge chance to equalize fell to the attention of the evening's star player, Palestra. The full-back, on loan from Atalanta, found himself completely alone in the center of the penalty area after a pass to the left from Folorunsho, and his shot from the outside of the box went wide, hitting teammate Borrelli , who handled it. Palestra, again, was met in the 26th minute by a decisive save from Bernasconi.
Atalanta came back in the 27th minute, when Lookman, served in the box, turned and shot, but Luperto blocked it and gave it a corner. But the opportunity was even bigger in the 39th minute, when De Ketelaere played Scamacca (held onside by Obert) and Caprile blocked his right-footed shot twice . A minute and a half later, Lookman again shot from the left, but Caprile blocked it, and De Ketelaere's tap-in was blocked by Obert, who sent the ball over the crossbar.
Before halftime (43'), De Ketelaere broke away on the right, fed Zappacosta, and his cross was deflected out for a corner by Rodríguez. Caprile saved Bernasconi's shot. The interval ended with two minutes of added time, with Borrelli's header going just wide after a cross from the left: a great chance to equalize .
The second half was uneventful, and Cagliari threatened again in the 48th minute: Adopo's cross from the right to the far post was met by Folorunsho in the six-yard box, but Kossounou made a providential save . Palladino made the first substitution, and in the 55th minute, Djimsiti withdrew due to a muscle injury, and Ahanor came on.
Pisacane's response came in the 58th minute, the same as the one seen against Roma midway through the second half: Zappa and Borrelli were replaced by Prati and Gaetano. After two excellent defensive saves by Palestra to stop the unleashed Lookman, Palladino replaced the booked Bernasconi with Zalewski and Éderson with Musah. Pisacane responded, again in the 66th minute, with Idrissi replacing the other yellow card, Juan Rodríguez. Deiola did well in the 72nd minute to connect with a nice through ball from Esposito, but Carnesecchi got there first .
With a quarter of an hour remaining, a splendid team play brought the equalizer: Folorunsho ran down the pitch, Gaetano back-heeled it to Esposito, who passed the ball to the number 10 on the left, sending him alone in front of Carnesecchi for a right-footed shot to make it 1-1 . This was Gaetano's second consecutive goal, having already scored against Roma.
Palladino, decidedly dissatisfied, tried his luck from the bench in the 79th minute, bringing on Samardžić and Pašalić for Zappacosta and Kossounou. He was rewarded in the 81st minute: Samardžić's cross was met by Scamacca, who missed his shot, but the ball remained within his reach. He beat Caprile to the second goal, his right-footed shot bouncing off the other foot before landing in the back of the net.
Zalewski had two chances to close it out in the 85th minute, the first coming off a run with his left foot and the second with a curling right-footer from the edge of the box. Caprile responded in both instances. For the final three minutes plus injury time, Pisacane went all out, with Luvumbo and Pavoletti coming in for Adopo and Luperto. But the scoreline remained unchanged at the 95th minute, even though Luvumbo would have scored in the fourth minute when Folorunsho's pass was ruled offside .
