Of all the Chelsea loans this summer, Mario Pasalic’s to Atalanta had been a success story so far, with the Croatian midfielder scoring two goals and picking up three assists prior to this weekend’s fixture against Cagliari.
However, with great performances comes more focus from the opposition on trying to counter them, and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday.
Gazzetta dello Sport explain the Chelsea man was one of the worst players on the pitch, handed a 4.5/10 by the newspaper, but that was mostly down to Filip Bradaric.
The Cagliari defensive midfielder ‘gagged’ his compatriot, who ‘crumbled’ beneath the pressure imposed by the 26-year-old defensive midfielder.
One of the more creative outlets at Atalanta so far, Pasalic wasn’t able to do anything as the Serie A side went on to lose 1-0 at home.
To make matters even worse, his attempt at clearing Nicolo Barrella’s cross from a free kick is what took it away from Etrit Berisha, deflecting it enough to wrong foot his goalkeeper.
Even if it won’t go down as an own goal, it’ll feel like one.
There’s always the next game.
