Title chasers Atalanta held by Juve, Milan hand Conceicao maiden Serie A win
Atalanta creeped closer to Serie A leaders Napoli on Tuesday after
drawing an entertaining match with Juventus 1-1 and moving to within four
points of the summit.
Mateo Retegui salvaged a point for Atalanta with a close-range header 12
minutes from the end, not long after returning to action from the bench
following four weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
The Italy striker's finish put him out on his own at the top of the
Serie A scoring charts on 13 goals and left Atalanta four points behind Napoli,
ahead of the table toppers' crucial trip to Bergamo this coming weekend.
Gian Piero Gasperini's side, who are bidding for their first league
title after winning the Europa League last season, are level on 43 points with
second-placed Inter Milan.
However, champions Inter have two games in hand on both Atalanta and
Napoli and play the first of those fixtures against Bologna at the San Siro on
Wednesday.
Tuesday's draw was Atalanta and Juve's rescheduled fixture due to their
trip to Saudi Arabia to contest the Italian Super Cup earlier this month.
Juve, without a recognised striker due to an injury crisis which has
left both Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik sidelined, opened the scoring
through central defender Pierre Kalulu in the 54th minute.
Thiago Motta's side remain unbeaten after a superb performance in which they created as much as, if not more than, Atalanta but have now drawn 13 of their 20 league fixtures and sit fifth, 13 points behind Napoli.
Earlier Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao saved AC Milan from an
embarrassing defeat at Como with the goals which gave Sergio Conceicao's new
team a 2-1 win.
Trailing to Assane Diao's fine low strike on the hour mark, star players
Hernandez and Leao turned the match around by the 76th minute, handing
Conceicao his first league win as Milan coach.
Tuesday's victory in one of their two games in hand moved Milan up to
seventh on 31 points, five behind fourth-placed Lazio as Conceicao tries to
reignite the Italian giants' bid for Champions League qualification.
"They (Como) are a good team with a good coach, it's not easy to
play here," said Conceicao.
"It was an even game but we can't concede as much as we did, we
need to be more organised."
Left flank pairing Hernandez and Leao had reportedly been at loggerheads
with Conceicao's predecessor Paulo Fonseca, who was sacked at the end of
December following a dismal opening half of the season.
Both praised their new coach after he arrived just before the new year
and immediately won the Italian Super Cup for Milan, who came from two goals
behind to beat Inter Milan in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
Hernandez levelled for Milan in 11 minutes after Como new boy Diao's
opener when his mishit volley sliced off his left boot and looped past
goalkeeper Jean Butez.
Leao dinked home the decisive goal shortly afterwards, meeting substitute Tammy Abraham's excellent through ball before netting his seventh goal in all competitions.
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