Serie A | Atalanta 1-2 Cagliari: Dea surprised by impressive Sardinians
BERGAMO, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 12: Daniel Maldini of Cagliari Calcio scores their team's second from the penalty spot goal during the Serie A match between Atalanta BC and Parma Calcio at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia on September 12, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Cagliari continued their remarkable start to the season with a prestigious 2-1 victory away to Atalanta, with Paul Mendy and Daniel Maldini scoring the first Serie A penalty of 2026/27.
These teams went into the season with very different expectations, but were both on six points after three rounds. La Dea scraped wins over Sassuolo and Bologna, only to fumble a 1-0 lead in stoppage-time defeat to Roma. Gianluca Gaetano was sent off after the final whistle for dissent and therefore suspended, with Isak Hien and Kamaldeen Sulemana injured. Late signings Franck Kessie and Jonathan Rowe got their first starts.
The Sardinians’ only loss was 1-0 to Inter, missing Mattia Felici to a torn ACL, M’Bala Nzola, Riyad Idrissi, and of course Yael Trepy after he nearly drowned in a swimming pool last month. Daniel Maldini faced one of his many former clubs and Yerry Mina returned from injury.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Gianluca Scamacca stung Elia Caprile’s gloves early on, but Marco Carnesecchi got down to palm a long-range Alessandro Romano daisy-cutter round the base of the near post.
Cagliari took the lead somewhat against the run of play, as Michel Adopo got down the right and rolled across for Paul Mendy to fire onto the underside of the bar from eight yards, watching it ricochet in. Curiously, Mendy now has three Serie A goals, all of them scored against Atalanta.
Carnesecchi also had to parry a curler from former teammate Daniel Maldini, but the hosts equalised when Giorgio Scalvini took a free kick quickly to send Charles De Ketelaere forward, it fell kindly for Scamacca’s angled drive with slight deflection off Adam Obert.
Mendy had the ball in the net again on 52 minutes, but was marginally offside when running onto the inspired Romano assist.
Sead Kolasinac clumsily flailed an arm over his head on a Romano free kick for a penalty, which Daniel Maldini converted with a stuttering run-up, sending Carnesecchi the wrong way. Curiously, this was the first penalty converted in Serie A this season, and only the second awarded in the opening 34 games.
Ze Pedro accidentally had his hand trodden on by Adopo, so made way for Yukinari Sugawara’s Cagliari debut, and Adam Obert tested Carnesecchi with a powerful effort at the near post.
Samardzic almost scored a stunning solo goal, squirming between four defenders inside the area only to prod inches wide, while Kessie and then the Nikola Krstovic header failed to beat Caprile.
Atalanta poured forward, but were too ineffective in attack, falling to a second consecutive defeat.
Mendy 19 (C), Scamacca 41 (A), Maldini pen 61 (C)
1st half
| 19' |  |
Paul Mendy (Assist: Michel Adopo) | ||
| Gianluca Scamacca (Assist: Charles De Ketelaere) |
41' |
2nd half
Atalanta
Cagliari
29
Goalkeeper
42
Defender
3
Defender
16
Defender
23
Defender
68'
13
Midfielder
Midfielder
86'
Midfielder
10
Midfielder
76'
17
Attacker
9
Attacker
68'
1
Goalkeeper
33
Defender
15
Defender
2
Defender
68'
14
Midfielder
4
Midfielder
70
Midfielder
79'
6
Midfielder
10
Midfielder
57'
8
Midfielder
31
Attacker
79'
59
Midfielder
99
Midfielder
77
Defender
57
Goalkeeper
Defender
40
Defender
Goalkeeper
90
Attacker
68'
47
Defender
68'
18
Attacker
76'
8
Midfielder
86'
20
Attacker
23
Goalkeeper
21
Midfielder
24
Midfielder
26
Defender
12
Goalkeeper
79
Midfielder
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.