- Milan, Sep 28: Kamaldeen Sulemana helped Atalanta keep up its impressive streak at Juventus by netting a solo goal in a 1-1 draw in Serie A.
Sulemana opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime after Juventus turned the ball over but Juan Cabal rescued a point for the host on Saturday to ensure his team maintained its unbeaten start to the season.
Inter had already lost two of its opening four matches but made it two wins on the bounce with a 2-0 victory at Cagliari.
Atalanta hadn’t lost at Juventus since 2018, with five victories and two draws since then.
Juventus almost took the lead with less than two minutes on the clock, but Pierre Kalulu’s header came off the right post.
Instead it was Atalanta that went in front in first-half stoppage time as Sulemana pounced on a mistake and then slalomed his way into the area, twisting and turning, before firing across into the bottom right corner.
It was a second goal in as many matches for Sulemana – who joined from Southampton in the offseason – after his goal and assist in last week’s 3-0 win at Torino. The 23-year-old forward celebrated with some acrobatic backflips.
Juventus levelled in the 78th minute with a chaotic move. Odilon Kossounou failed to clear a ball into the box and it fell kindly to Cabal, who reacted quickly to control and fire in from close range for only his second career goal and the Colombian’s first since 2022.
Atalanta soon went down to 10 men as Marten de Roon was sent off two minutes later after fouling Weston McKennie and receiving a second yellow card.
It turned into a siege but Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi managed to keep Juventus at bay, notably saving from McKennie at point-blank range and Edon Zhegrova.
Lautaro’s back
Lautaro Martínez showed he has fully recovered from a back problem as he set Inter on the way to victory.
The Argentine World Cup winner missed the Champions League victory over Ajax and only played 26 minutes against Sassuolo last week.
However, he returned to the starting lineup at Cagliari and headed in a cross from Alessandro Bastoni in the ninth minute.
Cagliari came close to levelling in the 73rd minute but Michael Folorunsho’s header crashed off the base of the upright. Instead it was Inter which doubled its lead nine minutes later when Pio Esposito drilled Federico Dimarco’s low cross into the bottom right corner for his first ever Serie A goal. (AP)
