Sarri: Atalanta's injury crisis deepens

Maurizio Sarri said injury problems have steadily worsened after Atalanta drew 2-2 away at Fiorentina. The head coach said, “We are still in the fight, but things are becoming more complicated.” Already missing players for the match, Atalanta suffered another blow when Thomas Kristensen was injured in the first five minutes and had to leave the field.

The match was played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. Fiorentina started strongly, but Atalanta went ahead through Charles De Ketelaere's goal. At the start of the second half, Alieu Njie and Joao Mario turned the score around with quick goals. Nicola Zalewski's goal in the closing minutes ended the match 2-2. This result followed last weekend's match against Frosinone, which had eight goals.

During the break, referee Federico La Penna suffered a muscle injury. As a result, the second half was delayed and fourth official Livio Marinelli took over the game. Sarri said this unexpected delay made it harder for his team to prepare for the second half.

Sarri revealed that eight of his players were left out of the squad for the match, and two more had only just returned to the bench. Gianluca Scamacca, Raoul Bellanova, Giacomo Raspadori, Franck Kessie and several other players were unavailable. The head coach also said he did not know Gianluca Gaetano's situation because he had not yet spoken to the doctor. Even so, Sarri welcomed the fact that De Ketelaere, whom he had criticised earlier, both scored and assisted in this match.