Simeon Nwankwo scores third goal of the campaign in Crotone’s home loss to Atalanta

Simeon Nwankwo scored against Atalanta in the Serie A on Saturday, but his goal was not enough to prevent Giovanni Stoppa’s side from falling to a fifth defeat of the season in the league — and sixth in all competitions.
The Sharks were looking to get a positive result against Gian Gasperini at Stadio Ezio Scida, but in the end they slipped to a third straight loss across all competitions.
Colombia forward Luis Muriel struck in the 26th and 38th minutes to put the visitors 2-0 up, before Nwankwo pulled one back five minutes before the half-time break with his first goal from open play since the campaign kicked off, which took his haul to three goals.
Junior Muriel controlled a pass from Ruslan Malinovsky before smashing in from just inside the box to open the scoring, before finishing off Remo Freuler’s ball to double his side’s lead.
Nwankwo then pounced on a loose ball to fire past goalkeeper Marco Sportiello to give the Sharks hopes of a comeback.
Crotone came very close to earning a draw through Messias after the interval, but were denied by Freuler’s well-timed block.
Messias had only Sportiello to beat after latching on to a backpass. He rounded the Atalanta keeper but took so long to pull the trigger, allowing Freuler catch up with him.
Atalanta twice went close to adding a third later on, with Alex Cordax producing a brilliant save to deny Malinovsky and substitute Duvan Zapata dragging his shot just wide from the edge of the box.
With the result, Crotone — still searching for their first win of the season — remain bottom of the table, while Atalanta move up to second, a point behind leaders AC Milan.