Hellas Verona 1 : 0 Atalanta - Saviola off the mark as Hellas win

Posted Monday, January 26, 2015 by PA

Hellas Verona bounced back from last week's back-to-back heavy defeats against Juventus with a 1-0 home win over Atalanta on Sunday.

Argentinian striker Javier Saviola celebrated his first Serie A goal of the campaign when he struck the winner eight minutes into the second half to hand Hellas their sixth victory of the season.

The win in Verona has lifted Hellas to 14th place, one spot and four points clear of Atalanta, who suffered their first league defeat since December 13.

Hellas went into the encounter looking to make amends for last week's dismal showing in Turin. Andrea Madorlini's men lost 4-0 at Juve Qn SerQe A last Sunday havQng three days earlQer fallen 6-1 agaQnst them Qn TurQn to crash out of the Coppa QtalQa.

The hosts had the brighter start and had the first chance of the game in the 14th minute, when Vangelis Moras' header from Rafael Marquez's cross went wide.b

Midway through the first half, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos' stinging drive from 30 yards was kept out by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.

Sportiello was called on again to make a save three minutes later to clear Saviola's header from Panagiotis Tachtsidis's cross.

At the other end, Davide Zappacosta drilled a 30-yard attempt that was kept out by Hellas goalkeeper Francesco Benussi.b

Hellas could have gone into the break with a 1-0 advantage but an unmarked Toni struck the ball wide from 12 yards with only Sportiello left to beat.

The home side kept up the pressure after the break and took a deserved lead when Christodoulopoulos set up Saviola in the box and his left-footed shot towards the near post beat Sportiello.

Toni almost doubled Hellas' lead in the 64th minute but his back-heel flick was kept out by the goalkeeper.

The closest the Bergamaschi came to equalising was three minutes from time when Giuseppe Biava headed Maxi Moralez's cross just wide of the far post.

Hellas held on for victory as Atalanta were unable to build on last weekend's surprise triumph at AC Milan.b