Atalanta

It was always going to be Cristiano Ronaldo. With Atalanta’s depleted squad running on fumes at Old Trafford, Harry Maguire’s 75th-minute equalizer set the stage for the inevitable: Cristiano Ronaldo hanging in the air, posterizing José Luis Palomino and directing a downward header inside the post for the win. 

It was Ronaldo’s 300th appearance across all competitions for Manchester United, and he’ll remember it fondly after completing the Red Devils’ improbable second half comeback. 

Unless you’re someone who paid for early access, FIFA 22 comes out in a week. Until then, we got an early preview of the game on Saturday when Inter Milan and Atalanta scored some ridiculous goals you normally only see in video games. 

Inter and Atalanta played a thrilling 2-2 draw on Saturday, with both teams thinking they’d won it late only for circumstances to rule otherwise. The draw was probably fair and allows us to focus on the first two goals of the match, which looked straight out of a video game. 

ROME — A Serie A season like no other heralded a changing of the guard at the top of Italian football.

In his second year in charge of Inter Milan, Antonio Conte masterminded a superb league campaign that ended his club's 11-year wait for the title.

| SIAMO NOI

Buonanotte così, #InterFans pic.twitter.com/dmW1WPy1OV

Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be forced to play in the Europa League next season. Juventus hammered Bologna 4-1 on the final day of the Serie A campaign on Sunday. Combined with Napoli’s 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona, the Old Lady was catapulted into fourth place to claim the final Champions League berth.

Juventus claimed the 2020-21 Coppa Italia 2-1 with a commanding second-half display against Atalanta at the Mapei Stadium on Wednesday night. Dejan Kulusevski put Juve in front after receiving the ball from Weston McKennie, but Ruslan Malinovskiy answered for La Dea — seeking its first major title since the 1963 Coppa — setting the stage for Federico Chiesa’s excellent second-half winner.

4,300 fans were allowed into the stadium in northern Italy, amounting to the country’s largest attendance since the pandemic began. 

Within the space of 10 first-half minutes, Slovenia found itself in a 2-0 hole on Saturday thanks to a brace from Russia's Artem Dzyuba. 

Atalanta's Josip Iličić pulled one back for Slovenia just a minute after Dzyuba's second goal of the day with his 11th international goal, a wonderful first-time strike from the edge of the 18-yard box. 

What a brilliant strike from Ilicic just now... pic.twitter.com/WcNIaxBvds

Real Madrid was a bit fortunate to escape its first-leg Round of 16 Champions League match with Atalanta with a win. It fully deserved its win back at home on Tuesday. 

Karim Benzema capitalized on an awful mistake from Atalanta’s keeper to set Real Madrid on its way to a 3-1 win on Tuesday in Madrid. Los Blancos advanced to the quarterfinals 4-1 on aggregate.