Empoli stunned Atalanta by taking a shock lead after exploiting the fact that players cannot be offside from a throw-in. After receiving a throw-in, Henderson raced to the byline and pulled the ball back for Lorenzo Colombo, who volleyed home from eight yards, with the shot taking a slight deflection on its way in.
The hosts then suffered another blow when Mateo Retegui was forced off with a muscular injury after just 21 minutes. He was replaced by Nicolò Zaniolo, who had an eventful debut, earning a yellow card within 60 seconds for stepping on Sebastiano Esposito’s foot.
Atalanta’s goalkeeper, Devis Vasquez, was called into action shortly after, making a spectacular reaction save to claw Sead Kolasinac’s header out of the near top corner from a free-kick situation, slapping it onto the upright to keep the scoreline intact.
The visitors eventually equalized when Davide Zappacosta’s cross sailed over Zaniolo but found Charles De Ketelaere, who finished with a diving header into the near bottom corner from 12 yards. Atalanta came close again when Berat Djimsiti’s powerful header from a De Ketelaere free-kick hit the base of the far post.
On the stroke of halftime, Atalanta turned the game around. Zaniolo nodded down a De Ketelaere cross from the left, allowing Ademola Lookman to control the ball and drill it in from a tight angle to give Atalanta a 2-1 lead.
In the second half, De Ketelaere’s cross-shot and an Ederson blast both skimmed the far post, but Empoli managed to equalize through a penalty. After a VAR review, Djimsiti was adjudged to have caught Alberto Grassi’s boot as he fell, and Esposito converted the penalty with power to make it 2-2.
Atalanta struggled to break Empoli down in the closing stages, but De Ketelaere stepped up with a stunning individual effort. Picking up the ball on the right flank, he dribbled past four Empoli defenders before drilling a left-footed shot into the near bottom corner from just inside the penalty area, giving Atalanta a dramatic 3-2 lead and securing all three points.
