Gasperini's substitutions have immediate impact as Atalanta beats Cagliari to stay atop Serie A

MILAN — A week after being named coach of the month, Gian Piero Gasperini showed why he is likely to be a contender for manager of the season again.

Gasperini’s substitutions had an immediate impact as Atalanta won 1-0 at lowly Cagliari on Saturday to ensure it will end the weekend top of the Serie A table.

It was a record-extending 10th straight league win for Atalanta and lifted it five points above second-placed Napoli, which was playing at Udinese later. Juventus — the only unbeaten team in Serie A — was hosting bottom club Venezia.

Atalanta struggled to break Cagliari down in the first half and had Marco Carnesecchi to thank for it not being behind at the interval, with the visiting goalkeeper pulling off a number of impressive stops — including a fantastic triple save shortly before the break.

Gasperini was clearly not happy with his team and made three changes at halftime and Atalanta immediately improved.

The coach made another two substitutions in the 64th minute, bringing on the fresh legs of Nicolò Zaniolo and Lazar Samardzic for Mario Pasalic and Charles De Ketelaere.

And the duo helped break the deadlock two minutes later. Samardzic found Raoul Bellanova on the right side of the area and he knocked it back for Zaniolo to slot into the near bottom corner from close range.

Gasperini, who has been in charge of Atalanta for eight years, won the coach-of-the-year award in 2019 and 2020. Last week, he picked up the monthly award for November.

Atalanta, which won the Europa League last season, has never won Serie A. It achieved its highest finish of third place three times under Gasperini.

Cagliari put on an impressive performance but remained just two points above the relegation zone.