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12th place Lecce defeated Atalanta at home in Serie A
Ademola Lookman could only look on and watch as his Atalanta side suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat at home to 12th-place Lecce in Serie A.
La Dea were rocked from the start and never recovered, despite mounting a late fightback that was ultimately too late.
Despite a howler from their goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone giving Atalanta hope of a comeback in the final few minutes, an early goal from Gambian striker Assan Ceesay and another in the second half by midfielder Alexis Blin were enough to secure all three points for Lecce.
How it happened
Atalanta were looking to improve their recent form, which has seen them lose three of their last four matches, but got off to the worst possible start after going behind only four minutes after kickoff.
Gambian forward Assan Ceesay scored a sensational shot from quite a distance to put Lecce up 1-0 and send them on their way towards a famous result.
Try as they might, Atlanta seemed incapable of scoring in the first half and saw chance after chance go begging.
Berat Djimsiti and especially Rasmus Winther Hojlund had chances that they would have buried any other day, but their misses just proved that today would not be Atalanta’s day.
The first half ended with Lecce leading 1-0 and Atalanta scrambling to get their acts together, but they would suffer a further blow to their attempts at a comeback when Alexis Blin scored from a well-worked corner kick to make it 2-0 to Lecce.
Despite going 2-0 down, Atalanta did not give up, and they would get a sliver of hope in the 87th minute in the most unusual circumstance.
Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone who had been superb throughout the game suddenly developed a case of the Yips and gifted Atalanta a goal when he tried to clear the ball and shot straight at the on-rushing Hojlund and could only watch as the ball trickled past him into the empty net.
Despite the goal, it was too little too late for Atalanta as Lecce saw out the 2-1 win.
Atalanta drop out of UCL spots.
With the defeat to Lecce, Atalanta have put their chances of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season in further jeopardy, as they have now been leapfrogged by Lazio.
La Dea find themselves in fifth place and could slip even further to sixth if Roma get as much as a point against Hellas Verona.
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