Serie A | Atalanta 2-0 Torino: De Ketelaere seals best Dea run of the season

Charles De Ketelaere broke his Serie A goal drought after 118 days to give Atalanta their third consecutive victory over Torino, something they hadn’t yet achieved this season.

Gianluca Scamacca and Sead Kolasinac were still not at 100 per cent, so Nikola Krstovic kept his place upfront after a brace in the midweek win over Bologna, with Raoul Bellanova and Mitchel Bakker injured, plus Ademola Lookman and Odilon Kossounou at AFCON. Cesare Casadei was suspended following Torino’s loss to Udinese, with Marcus Pedersen, Zanos Savva and Perr Schuurs not fully fit and Adam Masina on international duty.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It took under 13 minutes to break the deadlock, as De Ketelaere got a glancing header at the near post on the Lorenzo Bernasconi corner kick, sending the finish under the bar. It ended the Belgian’s goal drought after 118 days.

Cyril Ngonge stumbled when trying to go on the counter-attack, while Giorgio Scalvini’s effort at the back post was deflected wide on another Bernasconi corner and Krstovic aimed a header straight at Alberto Paleari.

The Toro goalkeeper was also quick off his line to deny Nicola Zalewski on the counter-attack, but Atalanta’s injury problems got worse when Berat Djimsiti had to be helped off the field following a sprain.

They came out fighting for the restart, as De Ketelaere squirmed to the by-line and pulled back, but both Krstovic and Aboukhlal stumbled in the six-yard box, allowing Paleari to smother the loose ball.

Moments later, Davide Zappacosta ran onto a Zalewski back-heel flick and smashed his strike against the upright from a tricky angle.

Ardian Ismajli charged down a Zalewski effort, but Marco Carnesecchi made a great save on the Guillermo Maripan scorcher from a corner, with Nikola Vlasic’s follow-up charged down by Honest Ahanor.

Carnesecchi made a sensational save one-on-one when Giovanni Simeone sprung the offside trap from a Che Adams through ball. On the resulting corner, Emirhan Ilkhan’s diving header didn’t have enough power to beat the goalkeeper.

Lazar Samardzic came off the bench and had two promising opportunities, firing one over and the other blocked off at the near post.

It remained open, so Vlasic had the crowd holding its breath when he hit a scorcher inches wide from the edge of the area at the 88^th minute.

Toro’s last attack fell apart when Cristiano Biraghi’s cross was intercepted by Scamacca, allowing Mario Pasalic to go on the counter from his own half and keep his cool to beat Paleari one-on-one. It was an emotional moment for the Croatian, who lost his father just before Christmas, so received a hug from all his teammates.

Atalanta 2-0 Torino

De Ketelaere 13 (A), Pasalic 95 (A)