Krstovic strike ends Atalanta's month without a win despite Monza onslaught
Nikola Krstovic punished a goalkeeping error to give Atalanta a 1-0 win at Monza, even though the hosts dominated large parts of the game and finished with the better of the shot count.
Atalanta ended an eight-match stretch without a victory in all competitions by winning 1-0 away at Monza, a result built almost entirely on resistance rather than control. Nikola Krstovic's 49th-minute tap-in settled it, but for the opening 45 minutes it was Monza who looked the side chasing a result, not the one already in crisis, according to Football Italia.
Maurizio Sarri's side had not won since October 15, collecting three draws and three defeats in the interim. His squad arrived at the U-Power Stadium severely depleted, missing Gianluca Gaetano, Raoul Bellanova, Thomas Kristensen, Isak Hien, Franck Kessie, Giacomo Raspadori and Odilon Kossounou, with the squad stretched further by Thursday's 1-1 Conference League draw against Kairat Almaty. Sead Kolasinac was the one recall of note.
Monza arrived in worse form, having lost three straight, and were without Jan Ziolkowski, Michael Folorunsho, Yvan Maye and Matteo Pessina. Ivan Juric's team still produced the more threatening football for long stretches, and the gulf in creation only widened the sense that Atalanta's win was earned through defensive organisation rather than attacking superiority.
A low block that bent without breaking
Monza's first-half pressure was sustained and direct, built around quick combinations through Ebeneezer Akinsanmiro and Gustavo Varela that repeatedly got in behind an Atalanta back line unable to build out of its own half. Marco Carnesecchi made four saves inside a 40-second spell, twice denying Varela before stopping efforts from Lorenzo Lucchesi and Jay Robinson, while Varela also put an eight-yard chance over the bar from a Robinson pull-back.
The match statistics bear out that imbalance. Monza finished with 22 total shots to Atalanta's 13, and had eight attempts blocked compared to just two for the visitors, a pattern consistent with a defence sitting deep and forcing shots from positions it could contest rather than prevent outright. Yet both sides managed seven shots on target, which is the more telling number: Atalanta's low block absorbed volume without conceding proportionally more clear sight of goal.
Even so, the side struggled badly to transition the ball forward, with Charles De Ketelaere's one notable foray ending in the side-netting under pressure from Leonardo Colombo.
The goal that came from nowhere
Krstovic's opener arrived against the balance of play. Lorenzo Bernasconi broke down the Atalanta left and rolled a ball across the box that goalkeeper Noel Tornqvist could only palm into Krstovic's path from close range, a finish that owed as much to the error as to any build-up pattern Atalanta had managed to establish. It was the kind of transition moment that can flatter a team that had barely threatened until that point, and it changed the complexion of the match entirely.
Second-half turnaround and a late flashpoint
Atalanta looked a markedly different side after the break. Mario Pasalic was denied by Tornqvist's outstretched foot, Ederson tested the goalkeeper's gloves, and Krstovic himself came close to a second, skimming the woodwork after a lay-off from Eljif Elmas. Monza still had their moments: Andrea Colpani's left-foot effort was turned away by Carnesecchi, who also denied De Ketelaere at the other end soon after, and Colpani had penalty appeals waved away in stoppage time.
The game ended with Monza reduced in numbers on the touchline after Juric was sent off, a late note of tension in a contest that had swung from one-sided pressure to backs-against-the-wall defending and back again.
For Atalanta, the result halts the slide and gives Sarri a first win since mid-October to build from, even with the squad still short of several key names. For Monza, a fourth straight loss leaves Juric's team searching for answers against a run of fixtures that shows no sign of easing, and a performance that created enough to have taken something from the game will offer little consolation without the points to show for it.