Petagna ignites SPAL comeback to shock Atalanta

Andrea Petagna ignited a come-from-behind victory for struggling SPAL to hand his former club Atalanta a shock 2-1 defeat in Serie A on Monday.

The Champions League-chasing side from Bergamo had won their last two home games against AC Milan and Parma with 5-0 scorelines each time.

But they slipped up against SPAL who snatched just their fourth win of the season to move off the bottom of the table.

Gian Piero Gasperini's team missed the chance to climb above Roma into the final Champions League place, and are now three points behind the side from the capital in fifth.

"Today more than a few players were not at their best," said Gasperini. "It was clear we were down a gear.

"But we will have to be ready to immediately redeem a bad performance, because the standings are very tight." Slovenian forward Josip Ilicic put Atalanta ahead after 16 minutes with a clever back-heel flick beating Etrit Berisha in the SPAL goal.

But Petagna pulled SPAL level after 54 minutes by scoring his fifth goal in four meetings against his former club.

Mattia Valoti snatched the winner six minutes later with new signing Bryan Dabo playing a role in the goal on his first start for SPAL.

"I left a piece of heart in Bergamo because I started here," said Petagna.

"But today we had to win, now we must continue like this if we want to save ourselves."
"Once in the lead, SPAL attacked with many men, but we weren't good at fighting them."