This Wednesday, Atalanta welcomed Sampdoria for matchday 31 of Serie A TIM. At the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia Stadium, the hosts struggled to get the three points but ended up with a 2-0 victory over their opponents. Rafael Toloi and Luis Fernando Muriel scored the goals of the match.

The visitors started the first half better, almost opening the scoring in the early minutes with Nicola Murru. However, it didn’t take long until Atalanta gained control of the match, having more the ball and going after opportunities of goal. Even with the good plays, they were lacking objectivity, constantly making mistakes in the last moment, and not being able to really threaten that much.

Sampdoria decided to stay with counter-attacks and try shots from outside the box. And that way they once again almost scored, this time with Manolo Gabbiadini. If it wasn’t for goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, the away side would probably go to the locker room ahead on the scoring.

At the beginning of the second half, things didn’t change that much. The home team still had the ball, but just couldn’t hit the target, while their opponents kept using counter-attacks and brought danger to their defense.

As the end of the match approached, Atalanta finally broke the deadlock. At the 75th minute, after a corner, Rafael Toloi jumped alone between two markers and headed into the back of the net to put the hosts ahead on the scoring.

10 minutes later, they doubled their lead. Luis Muriel got the ball outside the box and hit a beautiful shot in the left corner. Goalkeeper Emil Audero didn’t have any chances of saving it.

With the 2-0 victory, Atalanta reached 66 points, just 2 behind second-place Lazio, and keep fighting for a place on next year’s Champions League. Meanwhile, Sampdoria stopped at 32 points, in 16th place, still fighting against relegation.