Draw in Verona sabotages Atalanta’s Serie A title bid
MILAN: Matteo Pessina grabbed the equaliser for Hellas Verona to hold his high-flying parent club Atalanta 1-1 in Serie A on Saturday.
On-loan Pessina tapped in just before the hour mark in Verona minutes after Colombian striker Duvan Zapata had put the visitors ahead.
Atalanta move level on 71 points with second-placed Inter Milan, but are six points adrift of Serie A leaders Juventus.
Inter Milan were due to play at fifthplaced Roma last night, with Juventus today hosting fourth-placed Lazio, who are eight points off top spot.
“Talking about the Scudetto was always excessive,” said Gasperini, whose side have now scored in a club record 22 games in a row.
Atalanta’s hopes of a first Scudetto in the team’s 112-year history are all but over with four games left to play.
“Since the restart [after coronavirus], we’ve been notching up results at Scudetto-pace, but that was never our objective because something extraordinary had to happen for us, but also for Juventus.
“We lack a point to get to the Champions League,” continued Gasperini, whose side will play Paris
Saint-Germain in the last eight of this year’s edition next month.
Promoted Verona, in ninth, are coached by ex-Croatia midfielder Ivan Juric, who played under Gasperini in Genoa and was his assistant at Inter Milan and then Palermo.
AC Milan continued their fine form since the return from lockdown extending their unbeaten run to eight games, including six wins, with a 5-1 success over Bologna to move sixth and into the Europa League places.
Alexis Saelemaekers scored his first Milan goal after 10 minutes with Hakan Calhanoglu adding a second after 24 minutes.
Japanese defender Takehiro Tomiyasu gave Bologna hope, firing in for just outside the box for his first Serie A goal just before the break.
But Calhanoglu set up Ismael Bennacer for the third just after the break with Ante Rebic grabbed the fourth, three minutes before the hour mark with Davide Calabria adding a fifth in injury time.
Milan move three points ahead of Napoli, who were due to host Udinese last night and within a point of Roma.
Eighth-placed Sassuolo’s Europa
League hopes dwindled in a 1-1 draw at 10-man Cagliari.