Serie A | Verona 3-1 Atalanta: Hellas surprise Dea with first victory

Hellas Verona celebrated their first Serie A victory of the season, inflicting a stunning 3-1 result against on-form Atalanta on a foggy night at the Bentegodi.

La Dea had truly found their feet under new coach Raffaele Palladino, as after his debut defeat to Napoli, they won three on the bounce without conceding in Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia. Kamaldeen Sulemana picked up a thigh injury in the midweek 4-0 victory over Genoa and will be out for 2-3 weeks. Hellas were rock bottom and still without a single win, scraping one point from the last five rounds. To make matters worse, Roberto Gagliardini was suspended, with Domagoj Bradaric, Tomas Suslov, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro and Suat Serdar injured.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Giovane had the ball in the net after nine minutes, but was clearly offside when starting the run from midfield.

Atalanta threatened from a corner with a glancing Isak Hien header, that was cleared practically off the line.

Another set play caused problems, as Armel Bella-Kotchap risked an own goal with his flick on the Davide Zappacosta free kick, forcing Lorenzo Montipò into a desperate one-handed save at the base of the far post.

Giovane tested Marco Carnesecchi from distance, while a deflected Charles De Ketelaere effort looped just off target.

It was Verona who broke the deadlock, as Daniel Mosquera sprung the offside trap on a long ball over the top, found Belghali with a back-heel flick, who sent Odilon Kossounou to ground before blasting into the roof of the net from six yards.

Hellas added a second in style, as the Martin Frese throw-in was flicked on to the edge of the area, where Giovane let it bounce and hit a screamer of a left-foot half-volley for 2-0.

Nikola Krstovic managed to turn Victor Nelsson to fire straight at Montipò, then after the restart with two changes, Atalanta went close with Raoul Bellanova’s cross flicked on for De Ketelaere at the back post, the goalkeeper managing to claw it off the line.

Hellas also threatened a third, Giovane pulling back for Mosquera to drill inches wide, but there was a chaotic few moments.

With Lazar Samardzic furiously calling for a penalty for Bella-Kotchap handball, Verona went on the counter and scored for 3-0 with Giovane rolling across from the right for Antoine Bernede to fire into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. VAR checked footage through the fog and decided as the ball didn’t change direction, that there was no contact with Bella-Kotchap’s fingertips, otherwise the Verona goal would’ve been disallowed and Atalanta awarded a spot-kick.

Atalanta went very close moments later, as Gianluca Scamacca on the turn smashed his strike onto the crossbar from the edge of the box. However, this time VAR did spot the Bella-Kotchap deflection with an outstretched arm and the penalty was given, converted with power by Scamacca.

Verona held on for their first home win in Serie A since February, meaning only Fiorentina are left now without a single victory this season.

Verona 3-1 Atalanta

Belghali 28 (V), Giovane 36 (V), Bernede 72 (V), Scamacca pen 81 (A)