Serie A | Fiorentina 2-2 Atalanta: Entertaining draw does little for either team
FLORENCE, ITALY - OCTOBER 29: Alieu Njie of ACF Fiorentina scores a goal during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and Atalanta BC at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 29, 2026 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
Fiorentina and Atalanta battled over an entertaining 2-2 draw, but the point apiece does precious little for either team’s recent fortunes.
Both these clubs had been accustomed to considerably better results in recent years, but were struggling badly. The Viola had a brief resurgence with Paolo Vanoli’s return, only to suffer three consecutive defeats, with Marin Pongracic joining Luca Ranieri, Arthur Atta and Fabiano Parisi on the treatment table.
This paled in comparison to Atalanta’s injury crisis, which expanded to include Gianluca Scamacca, Raoul Bellanova, Giacomo Raspadori, Franck Kessie, Sead Kolasinac, Isak Hien and Odilon Kossounou. The only boost was the return of Giorgio Scalvini to the bench. La Dea won just one of their last six Serie A games, fresh off a 4-4 thriller with Frosinone.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Incredibly, the Atalanta injury crisis got even worse immediately, with Thomas Kristensen clutching the back of his thigh after 120 seconds, forced to go off and give Scalvini an earlier than expected comeback.
Mateo Pellegrino and Alex Jimenez fired off target in a very aggressive Fiorentina start, before Franco Mastantuono tested Marco Carnesecchi at the near post.
La Dea’s first real chance came on 19 minutes, as Charles De Ketelaere rolled across from the left for an Eljif Elmas shot charged down.
Carnesecchi had to be alert to stick out a leg when the Cher Ndour attempt took a double deflection, while Gianluca Gaetano fired over at the other end on an Elmas lay-off.
Mastantuono’s curler was inches wide, but Atalanta opened the scoring when Gianluca Gaetano tackled Niccolò Fagioli in midfield to start the counter-attack, Nicola Zalewski pulling across from the left for De Ketelaere to sweep in from 12 yards.
It could so easily have been 2-0 moments later, but David De Gea got down for an astonishing save to claw the Nikola Krstovic header off the line.
The injury crisis spread to the referee, as Federico La Penna was unable to continue in the second half, so he swapped places with fourth official Livio Marinelli.
Mastantuono’s free kick dipped over the wall only to graze the upright at the near top corner, and Fiorentina did equalise when Alex Jimenez whipped a cross to the back post for the Alieu Njie diving header.
It was suddenly wide open, Viery intercepting the De Ketelaere roll across with Krstovic ready to tap in, but Joao Mario put Fiorentina in front when his shot from outside the area took a huge deflection off Relja Obric to completely wrongfoot Carnesecchi.
Krstovic curled wide after a smart De Ketelaere dummy, then the Belgian went down under pressure from Cher Ndour, but not enough for a penalty.
De Ketelaere provided the assist for the Atalanta equaliser, as Nicola Zalewski drilled through a sea of legs to surprise De Gea at the near bottom corner.
Carnesecchi used his legs to deny Brescianini at the near post, while De Ketelaere forced a flying save out of De Gea and late substitute Beto nodded wide in added time.
De Ketelaere 41 (A), Njie 53 (F), Joao Mario 61 (F), Zalewski 74 (A)
1st half
| 12' |  |
Eljif Elmas | ||
| Viery | 30' | |||
| 41' |  |
Charles De Ketelaere (Assist: Nicola Zalewski) |
2nd half
| Mateo Pellegrino | 51' | |||
| Alieu Njie (Assist: Álex Jiménez) |
53' | |||
| João Mário (Assist: Alieu Njie) |
61' | |||
| 74' | Nicola Zalewski (Assist: Charles De Ketelaere) | |||
| Wilfried Gnonto | 75' | |||
| 83' | Relja Obric |
Fiorentina
Atalanta
43
Goalkeeper
20
Defender
17
Defender
3
Defender
33
Defender
27
Midfielder
30
Midfielder
90'
4
Midfielder
44
Midfielder
46'
25
Attacker
69'
32
Attacker
90'
29
Goalkeeper
77
Defender
47
Defender
40
Defender
31
Defender
4'
13
Midfielder
99
Midfielder
58'
70
Midfielder
57'
59
Midfielder
84'
17
Attacker
90
Attacker
19
Goalkeeper
2
Defender
53
Goalkeeper
21
Defender
73
Midfielder
72
Attacker
75
Defender
42
Midfielder
46'
29
Attacker
69'
23
Attacker
90'
28
Midfielder
90'
10
Midfielder
57
Goalkeeper
53
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