Putting in a dominant display, Atalanta cruised to a 4-0 victory against Venezia at the Gewiss Stadium, meaning the Bergamo club have now won eight of their ten home matches against the Venetians in Serie A (SA).
In typical Atalanta fashion, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men started on the front foot and took the lead in superb style just seven minutes in. With the ball on the edge of the box, Josip Iličić played a terrific pass through the legs of a Venezia defender to find Mario Pašalić in the box, and the Croatian stabbed home from close range to strike an early blow in Bergamo. It would quickly go from bad to worse for the visitors only five minutes later when Pašalić struck for his second goal of the night after being played in by Luis Muriel, seeing the hosts flex their muscles early on. ‘I Leoni Ałati’ did not crumble after giving up two early goals, yet any efforts to get themselves back into the game were easily thwarted by the Atalanta rearguard, and the hosts headed into HT with a comfortable lead.
The second period would start in similar style to the first, and Atalanta scored their third goal just over ten minutes after the break. Having latched onto a Giuseppe Pezzella pass at the top of the box, Teun Koopmeiners side-footed the ball into the corner of the net with extreme composure to effectively put the game to bed with more than 30 minutes of play remaining. Atalanta’s high-powered attack didn’t stop there, as Pašalić completed his hat-trick 15 minutes later, dispatching from point-blank range after getting on the end of an inch-perfect Muriel cross.
Having driven the final nail into Venezia’s coffin, Atalanta were able to see the game out in cruise control and collect a victory that takes ‘La Dea’ six points clear in the race for the final Champions League spot in SA, for now. Meanwhile, Venezia have now suffered three defeats in their last five SA matches.
