Milan (AFP) – Ruslan Malinovskiy helped Atalanta consolidate fourth place in Serie A with the winner in a 2-1 win at Fiorentina that ended their 27-year away winless run against the Tuscan club.
Federico Chiesa’s scorcher just after half an hour gave mid-table Fiorentina hope of another win over Atalanta, whom they eliminated from the Italian Cup at their Stadio Artemio Franchi last month.
But Duvan Zapata tapped in four minutes after the break to level the scores before Ukrainian Malinovsky came off the bench to seal victory with 18 minutes left, giving Atalanta their first win away at the ‘Viola’ since 1993.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side pull three points clear of fifth-placed Roma in the race for the Champions League following the capital club’s 3-2 home defeat to Bologna on Friday, but are still eight points behind in-form Lazio in third.
“These are three very important, key points. We haven’t won here for 27 years, and we were up a against an in-form team,” said Gasperini.
Atalanta host Roma meet next weekend before they host Valencia in the Champions League last-16, having qualified for the competition for the first time this season.
Juventus travel to Verona later on Saturday with Cristiano Ronaldo bidding to extend his scoring streak to 10 consecutive league games.
Verona are on a seven-game unbeaten run and held third-placed Lazio to a goalless draw in Rome midweek.
Torino host Sampdoria under new coach Moreno Longo after Walter Mazzarri was sacked this week following three consecutive defeats, in which they conceded 13 goals.
Second-placed Inter Milan go to head-to-head with Zlatan Ibrahamovic’s AC Milan in Sunday’s derby clash at the San Siro.
