Coppa Italia: Atalanta crush Cesena to set meeting with Bologna

Atalanta have again shown their intent to win this season’s Coppa Itallia with a comfortable 6-1 victory over Serie B outfit Cesena in the Round of 16 on Wednesday evening.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s men showed their intent with goals from Davide Zappacosta, Charles De Ketelaere, Lazar Samardzic, and Marco Brescianini to secure passage into the quarter-finals, while the visitors got a late consolation goal from Joseph Ceesay.

Gasperini, who stated that his side is willing to win the tournament, surprisingly named a strong starting lineup for Wednesday’s cup match. The Serie A top goalscorer, alongside Lazar Samardzic and Charles De Ketelaere, will lead the attack.

The tactician also handed a debut to 19-year-old Italy talent Marco Palestra. 

The only major absentee was Ademola Lookman, the new CAF African player of the year, who watched on from the stands. 

 Cesena also named a surprising starting lineup, naming an entirely new XI after their 2-1 win over Cosenza in Serie B over the weekend. 

The hosts needed just four minutes to break the deadlock at a time when some Atalanta supporters were still making their way to their seats.

Following a corner, Davide Zappacosta had a neat exchange between De Ketelaere and Berat Djimsiti in the corner of the area before taking a few touches and dispatching a right-footed effort into the far bottom corner. 

De Ketelaere made it two three minutes later. The Belgian played a nice one-two with Retegui on the edge of the area, and the Italian provided the lay-off with a tidy flick for him to find the bottom corner from 18 yards out. 

In the 26th minute, it was 3-0 through Lazar Samardzic, who started and finished the move. Atalanta punished them after a rare attack, as the 22-year-old broke on the counter, passed to Mario Pasalic, and received the ball back in the area to send a left-footed effort looping into the top corner, with a hefty deflection helping him.

It became 4-0 when Retegui, Samardzic, and De Ketelaere played some neat one-touch football in the Cesena area. The Belgian was sent through to the edge of the six-yard box and skewed an improvised effort off the far post. 

They made it five courtesy of a well-executed free-kick routine. Marten De Roon played it short to Rafael Toloi on the edge of the area, who then played it to the completely unmarked Marco Brescianini, who fired in from 10 yards out. 

Samardzic wrapped up the goals. After receiving the ball from Nicolo Zanioli in the area, he beat his defender and then slammed home from the right-hand side of the penalty area. 

Cesena got a consolation goal in the final minute as Sydney van Hooijdonk slipped in Joseph Ceesay on the break, and he made no mistake in dispatching past Rui Patricio one-on-one. 

Atalanta will face Bologna away from home in the February 5, 2025 quarter-final.