Atalanta overcome fresh injuries to see off Pafos in Bergamo
La Dea scored twice in the opening quarter-hour and added a third before the break, but lost Giacomo Raspadori and watched David Luiz limp off as their casualty list grew further.
Atalanta beat Pafos 3-1 in their opening Conference League group match on Wednesday, with goals from Eljif Elmas, Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca securing the points before Biel's late reply for the Cypriot visitors, according to Football Italia.
Elmas needed just 50 seconds to open the scoring. Raspadori rolled the ball across from the right, Scamacca let it run through with a dummy, and Elmas swept it in unmarked.
Atalanta doubled their lead through a penalty on 18 minutes after Bruno Felipe pulled back Nicola Zalewski inside the box. Raspadori sent Radoslaw Majecki the wrong way to convert, but he grimaced in pain as he did so and was substituted moments later with a new muscular injury, replaced by Charles De Ketelaere.
A fast start masks a deepening injury list
The scoreline flattered Atalanta's night in one respect. Coach's selection already reflected an absence crisis before kickoff, with Giorgio Scalvini, Franck Kessie, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Isak Hien, Odilon Kossounou and Raoul Bellanova all unavailable, per Football Italia.
Raspadori's exit added to that list, and so did Pafos's, with David Luiz forced off before half-time with a flexor problem just three years into a reunion with his former Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, who now coaches the Cypriot side.
By the closing stages Atalanta were fielding youth academy right-back Javison Idele on his debut, with Zalewski shifted into central defence to cover. That improvisation says more about the squad's current state than the final score does: a team winning comfortably on the pitch while its depth chart thins out behind the scenes.
The win followed a difficult run in Serie A, where Atalanta had lost three consecutive league games before beating Venezia 3-1 on Monday, a match that also ended with Elmas sent off. Wednesday's result arrived on the back of that short turnaround, with minimal recovery time between fixtures.
De Ketelaere's introduction changes the game
Scamacca made it 3-0 just before the interval, taking a touch to finish from 14 yards after De Ketelaere timed a through ball to release him. The sequence underlined how quickly the substitute altered the rhythm of the attack once he replaced the injured Raspadori.
De Ketelaere was involved again later, surging forward for a shot that cannoned off the crossbar. Atalanta's chance creation continued through Zalewski too, whose scorcher from a tight angle was palmed over by Majecki, and whose through ball sent Mario Pasalic clear before a sliding challenge from Samy Mmaee intervened.
Atalanta finished the match with 65 percent possession and 19 total shots to Pafos's eight, figures that reflect how comfortably they controlled territory even as personnel changed around them, according to the match statistics recorded by Football Italia.
Pafos show spirit but pay for individual lapses
Pafos were not without opportunities of their own. Lelê fired wide after being played through one-on-one with Marco Carnesecchi, a miss that would have cut the deficit before Atalanta's third goal arrived. Scamacca also tested Majecki's reflexes with a shot that was turned away for a corner.
Vlad Dragomir's free kick drew a smart save from Carnesecchi, who pushed it around the base of the post, while Anderson Silva's snapshot was spilled by the Atalanta goalkeeper before he recovered it just short of the line. Carnesecchi was less assured for Pafos's goal in the 88th minute, when a chested assist teed up Biel to drill a finish beneath him.
Pafos arrived in Bergamo having already dropped into the Conference League after losing their Europa League qualifier to RB Salzburg, and were missing Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu, David Goldar, Jay Gorter, Charalampos Kryiakidis and Jajá. The consolation goal offered little beyond pride on a night Atalanta controlled from the first minute.
Atalanta's challenge now is squad management as much as tactics. With Raspadori joining an already long injury list and De Ketelaere having shown immediate impact from the bench, how the coaching staff rotates the forward line in the coming weeks will shape both the Conference League campaign and the push to recover lost ground in Serie A.