Atalanta made history by thrashing Salernitana 8-2, including goals from Hojlund, Boga, Lookman, and Ederson.
With Luis Muriel being the lone striker, Atalanta saw an opportunity to close the gap on the European positions. In addition to Pasquale Mazzocchi, Luigi Sepe, and Giulio Maggiore being hurt, Salernitana also had Flavius Daniliuc suspended. After only two points from five rounds, coach Davide Nicola was beginning to feel the pressure.
Jeremie Boga celebrated his first start of the season in less than five minutes after cutting inside from the left, surviving three attempted tackles, and launching a rocket that misfired and deflected off Domagoj Bradaric to catch Guillermo Ochoa off guard. The former Sassuolo player scored his first Serie A goal for the team.
Using his legs to parry, Ochoa was prepared for the Koopmeiners daisy-cutter on a Davide Zappacosta roll across from the right.
It was pivotal because Salernitana equalised when Boulaye Dia poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper after Krzysztof Piatek flicked on a long Ochoa kick.
A free kick for Federico Fazio’s foul on Rasmus Hojlund was converted to a penalty when VAR determined that contact had occurred inside the penalty area. The game was close throughout, with Ochoa flying to block the Ademola Lookman curler. The bottom corner of the goal was reached by Lookman’s spot-kick as it ducked under Ochoa’s body and arm.
Giorgio Scalvini quickly headed the ball over Ochoa in response to a Koopmeiners corner to make it 3-1.
Hojlund manoeuvred himself between two defenders to see Ochoa tip his shot away, but bad news for Atalanta came in the form of Koopmeiners’ yellow card, which means he will miss the match against Juventus.
Boga sprinted to the left and rolled across the goal face. Fazio got a touch, risking an own goal, but also, and perhaps more importantly, preventing Hojlund from sliding in. Hojlund had squeezed between two defenders when Fazio again gave him a penalty for tripping him. This time, Ochoa made the save on Koopmeiners, but he was powerless to stop the Dutchman’s rebound.
Throughout the first half, Hojlund tormented Fazio. On a through ball from midfield, he ran off with it and drilled a shot across Ochoa into the bottom right corner for a score of 5-1. In the first half of a Serie A game against Napoli in November 1941, Atalanta scored five goals for the first time in club history.
As Piatek slid in an instant too late for the tap-in, Dia flashed a dangerous ball across the goal’s face. In contrast, Lookman’s rocket from the edge of the box into the top corner gave Atalanta their sixth goal.
Hans Nicolussi Caviglia equalised with a sweeping shot from the inside of right boot from the edge of the penalty box that took a deflection and squeaked into the far bottom corner. With an unstoppable right-foot curler that gave Ochoa no chance, Ederson scored a stunning goal against his former team but chose not to celebrate out of respect for them.
With their eighth goal, Atalanta broke their previous record. Another ex-Salernitana player, Nadir Zortea, scored the record-breaking goal off a pass from Duvan Zapata. If Ochoa hadn’t palmed a Koopmeiners strike from the tightest of angles onto the crossbar, the score would have been nine.
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