As expected, given their poor recent home form, Atalanta took a while to get going. And Lazio’s defence was sufficiently alert when La Dea did, with Davide Zappacosta and Mateo Retegui both seeing key passes cut out.
Both blocks resulted in corners, but again the visitors stood firm – their eagerness to prioritise self-preservation understandable, given that 13 of their 15 prior Serie A victories had come after scoring first.
Lazio’s intent to stifle and frustrate Atalanta duly translated into a lack of clear-cut chances for them, although Fisayo Dele-Bashiru saw a promising pass snuffed out as the game approached the half-hour mark.
Soon after, Marco Baroni was prematurely forced into the first substitution of the game, withdrawing Nuno Tavares through injury after a strong challenge from Sead Kolasinac.
Atalanta then continued their former probing of the visitors’ backline, but again, the defence was on top and a further trio of La Dea corners came to nothing. And with Lazio sensing Atalanta’s frustration, they turned on the heat in the final third immediately after half-time.
Still very much a livewire, Dele-Bashiru blew a good opportunity, firing a terrific shot from the edge of the box, but being thwarted by a brilliant save from Marco Carnesecchi.
He fared better a few minutes later though, as after Christos Mandas pulled off a world-class stop from Mateo Retegui, the Nigerian played a well-improvised flick header to Gustav Isaksen on a counter. With Carnesecchi committed, the Danish forward did the rest, sliding in to convert his sixth goal of the season.
A response was urgently needed from La Dea, and Davide Zappacosta could have provided one with a bit more luck, as he received a rebound just outside the area but Mandas made a fairly routine stop.
That didn’t signal a change in momentum, though, and Luca Pellegrini should have ended the match as a contest with a quarter-hour remaining, but badly underhit an effort that Carnesecchi easily put out for a corner that came to nothing.
That led to Gian Piero Gasperini making his final play from the bench, with a double substitution that saw Lazar Samardzic and Daniel Maldini enter the fray.
Sadly for them, they couldn’t make a difference, and Lazio held firm to claim all three points. What was once a promising title challenge for Atalanta is now dead in the water, after a third straight league loss and a fourth successive failure to score on home soil.
It’s the first time in two decades they’ve suffered the latter indignity, and their emotions will contrast sharply with those of Lazio, who will relish this victory – their third triumph in five away head-to-heads against the Bergamo outfit.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Lazio)
