Saturday Wrap-Up

The Serie A weekend kicked off at long last with Palermo-Cagliari at the Renzo Barbera and Milan-Atalanta at the San Siro. After all the speculation of the past two weeks over the international break, let's take a quick look at how the two draws actually played out.

Palermo 1-1 Cagliari

This matchup between the two struggling island squads produced an exciting encounter as each took a share of the points. Cagliari's more talented midfield was able to aid in turning in a statistically superior performance, with the Sardinians taking 61% of the possession and having 12 shots (4 on goal) to Palermo's 7 (3 on goal). Despite these numerical disparities, however, the Sicilians created better scoring chances with Fabrizio Miccoli turning in a good match, particularly with respect to his set-pieces. His swerving free kick in the 27th minute forced Cagliari keeper Michael Agazzi to make a fantastic scorpion-kick save with his trailing foot after the ball bizarrely curled inwards at the last moment. In the 40th Miccoli turned provider, running at a pair of opponents in the box before pulling back for Arevalo Rios, who made no mistake and unleashed a thunderbolt that flew low inside the far post to put Palermo ahead 1-0. It was the Uruguayan's maiden Serie A strike, and the Rosanero's first goal of the young season. Another dead-ball Miccoli curler called Agazzi into action again on 76 minutes, while soon after Massimo Donati headed in yet an additional Miccoli free-kick only to see the offside flag go up. Late on, Ariaudo was in turn flagged for offside after being played in on goal via a Daniele Conti flicked free-kick. Palermo seemed certain to take all 3 points, but Marco Sau emerged as a late hero for Cagliari when he headed home the rebound from Ujkani's save on Gabriele Pelico's venomous volley!

Match Facts

Shots on Goal: Palermo 7(3); Cagliari 12(4)

Fouls: Palermo 16; Cagliari 27

Corner Kicks: Palermo 0; Cagliari 1

Offsides: Palermo 6; Cagliari 4

TOP: Palermo 39%; Cagliari 61%

Yellow Cards: Palermo 3; Cagliari 2

Red Cards: Palermo 0; Cagliari 0

Saves: Palermo 3; Cagliari 2

Lineups

Palermo: Ujkani; Morganella, Von Bergen (Munoz 75), Mantovani, Garcia; Bertolo, Donati (Pisano 89), Rios, Ilicic (Krtic 52); Hernandez, Miccoli

Cagliari: Agazzi; Perico, Rossettini, Ariaudo, F Pisano; Ekdal (Nene 77), Conti, Nainggolan; Cossu (Ibarbo 35); Thiago Ribeiro (Sau 64), Pinilla

Atalanta 1-0 Milan

The Lombard Derby went the way of the minnows from Bergamo as the pressure surrounding Milanello increases. The Diavolo camp has now officially entered crisis mode after a tactically sound Atalanta replicated Sampdoria's 1-0 road win from Serie A's opening weekend. Per usual, Milan were without Alexandre Pato, and counted Riccardo Montolivo and Robinho among those ruled out of the contest as well. Atalanta willingly allowed the hosts to control the majority of possession, feeling content to sit back and wait to hit them on the break. While Milan searched for a way through the many white jerseys crowding the opposing penalty area, it was the visitors who claimed the first real chance, German Denis turning in the box on 20 minutes only to bang his finish off the base of the post. The Rossoneri again laid claim to the ball for a long bout in which their best chances came from a series of long range Stephan El Shaarawy and Kevin-Prince Boateng shots that seemed to all be aimed directly into the arms of Week 2 hero Andrea Consigli. The two squads went into the half with nothing between them, Milan having only frustrated itself with wastefulness and a lack of creativity in the final third. The second half proceeded much the same for the Rossoneri, their best chance coming when Boateng came up short trying to get on the end of a Luca Antonini cross from 10 yards out. On 64 minutes, the unthinkable happened for Atalanta. German Denis received a pass and dribbled into the box on the left side, turned, and picked out Luca Cigarini in the middle 20 yards out. Cigarini thumped a wonderful strike on the ground that rolled into the bottom right corner past Abbiati's outstretched hand, putting the Orobici out in front 1-0. A shellshocked Milan searched for the equalizer, desperately pouring forward and putting balls into the box, but to no avail. An uninspiring Giampaolo Pazzini was visibly frustrated in failing to test Consigli in the closing stages, while Abbiati had to perform an acrobatic save to prevent Atalanta from hitting a second after a classic counterattack sparked by Maxi Moralez exposed the Diavolo backline. There would be no heroics in stoppage time for the home side as despondent Milan fans looked on as Atalanta celebrated its victory with relish on the San Siro pitch.

Match Facts

Shots on Goal: Atalanta 10(4); Milan 17(7)

Fouls: Atalanta 19; Milan 12

Corner Kicks: Atalanta 8; Milan 5

Offsides: Atalanta 1; Milan 0

TOP: Atalanta 37%; Milan 63%

Yellow Cards: Atalanta 4; Milan 2

Red Cards: Atalanta 0; Milan 0

Saves: Atalanta 7; Milan 3

Lineups

Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Bonera, Acerbi, Antonini; De Jong, Ambrosini (Nocerino 55), Emanuelson (Constant 79); Boateng; Pazzini, El Shaarawy (Bojan 70)

Atalanta: Consigli; Bellini, Lucchini, Manfredini, Brivio (Ferri 72); Raimondi, Cigarini (Cazzola 80), Biondini, Bonaventura (De Luca 77); Moralez; Denis