Udinese recovers from 2 goals down to draw against Atalanta

MILAN (AP) — Udinese never gives up.

The latest example of its fighting spirit saw it recover from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Serie A leader Atalanta on Sunday.

Nehuén Pérez and Gerard Deulofeu cancelled out goals from Ademola Lookman and Luis Muriel to allow Udinese to rescue a point and move level with defending champion AC Milan and Napoli in the Serie A table, a point behind Atalanta.

Napoli was playing at lowly Cremonese later.

Udinese had won its past six matches and four of those wins had come after Andrea Sottil’s side had first fallen behind.

The match was played at a high intensity but there were few real goalscoring chances before Atalanta broke the deadlock nine minutes before the break. Muriel ran onto a very long Teun Koopmeiners ball over the top, cut inside from the left and rolled it across for Lookman to tap in at the back post.

Atalanta doubled its lead early in the second half after Muriel was tripped by Udinese defender Destiny Udogie. The jeers rained down from the stands but that didn’t distract Muriel, who slotted the penalty into the bottom left corner.

Muriel was at Udinese for five years before leaving for Sampdoria in 2015, although he spent almost half that time on loan.

Udinese pulled one back when Deulofeu curled in a free kick in the 67th minute and he also had a hand in the equaliser with a pass to the byline to Roberto Pereyra, who crossed for Pérez to head home.

HAT TRICK OF WINS

Udinese’s Nehuen Perez is embraced by teammate Gerard Deulofeu after scoring his side’s second goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Atalanta at the Friuli Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2022.

Monza made it a hat trick of victories with a 2-0 win over Spezia to propel it into midtable.

Silvio Berlusconi’s side lost five of its opening six matches before recording its first ever Serie A victory with a surprise win over Juventus before the international break. It has also not conceded a goal in its past three matches.

Substitute Boulaye Dia scored in stoppage time to see Salernitana snatch a 2-1 win over Hellas Verona. There was a brawl shortly afterwards and Salernitana captain Ivan Radovanović was shown a red card while Verona defender Federico Ceccherini was also sent off from the bench.

Also, Torino drew 1-1 against Empoli.

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