Cristante pleased to rediscover scoring touch

The Italy international lashed home from 30 yards out to pull the Giallorossi level with 15 minutes remaining – after Ruslan Malinovskiy had given the visitors a first half lead.

It was Cristante’s first league goal since September 2019.

“I’m pleased for the goal and to help us get a draw, we need to push on from this,” Cristante said.

“I haven’t scored for a while, let’s hope there are more to come.”

Atalanta perhaps had the better chances in the early part of the game, but Paulo Fonseca’s side finished strongly and made Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini work hard to keep his side on level terms.

“We knew they were going to press us high up the pitch and that made it a difficult game, but at times we managed to get past and create a threat in the final third,” Cristante said.

“They had their chances but so did we. We could have won the game in the end, but perhaps a draw is fair.”

He added: “The next two games are really important. First we have Cagliari, then Manchester United. We want to do the best we can to reach the [Europa League] final.”