Atalanta and Frosinone produced the game of the Serie A season so far on Sunday, sharing an extraordinary 4-4 draw in Bergamo in which the lead changed hands repeatedly, Nikola Krstovic and Romano Schmid both scored twice, and substitute Aleksa Terzic rescued a point for the visitors eight minutes from time.
It finished 3-2 at half-time and somehow got wilder after the break. Frosinone, the promoted side nobody can put away, led twice in the first 17 minutes, trailed twice after it, and still found an equaliser at 4-4 — climbing provisionally to sixth in Serie A with 14 points, while Atalanta sit 11th on 10 after another afternoon that exposed their defensive fragility.
A goal inside 30 seconds sets the tone
The chaos started almost before the crowd had settled. Ederson's wayward back-pass gifted Schmid the opening goal inside the first minute, the Austrian sweeping home undisturbed for his first Serie A goal, as Atalanta themselves recorded in their official match report. Atalanta levelled on 14 minutes, Charles De Ketelaere's slide-rule pass releasing Krstovic to control and sweep in from six yards.
Three minutes later Frosinone were back in front. After a VAR check for a possible offside against Giorgi Kvernadze, Fares Ghedjemis rolled the ball across for Schmid to score his second from 12 yards. Atalanta's problems deepened when Raoul Bellanova limped off with a muscular injury, but they levelled again on 33 minutes: Giorgio Cittadini was penalised for handball after De Ketelaere nodded the ball onto his raised arm, and Ederson converted the penalty to make up for his early error. Krstovic then grazed the bar with a header before meeting Davide Zappacosta's low cross from six yards in the 45th minute to put the hosts ahead for the first time.
Calo, Elmas and Terzic keep the madness going
Frosinone needed just three minutes of the second half to level at 3-3, the ball laid off to the edge of the area for Giacomo Calo to sweep a first-time finish beyond Marco Carnesecchi. The celebrations had barely finished when Atalanta were 4-3 up: De Ketelaere surged into the box, Krstovic kept the move going, and Eljif Elmas drilled home in the 50th minute — a goal and an assist to complete a superb individual afternoon for the Montenegrin striker.
Both sides could have scored more. A desperate Gabriele Calvani block denied Krstovic his hat-trick, Carnesecchi saved from Ghedjemis, and Lorenzo Palmisani produced a fine reaction stop from Nicola Zalewski. The equaliser, when it came on 82 minutes, felt inevitable: Schmid and the outstanding Ghedjemis — who finished with three assists — combined down the right for half-time substitute Terzic to turn the ball in first-time from 12 yards. Elmas still forced Palmisani into a late save and Carnesecchi was busy in stoppage time, but 4-4 was where this remarkable game finally stopped.
So what? Sarri's Atalanta are leaking, and Frosinone are for real
For Atalanta, this is a crisis taking shape. Maurizio Sarri's side have lost four of their last five league matches, were beaten 2-0 by Ajax in the Conference League on Thursday, and played this game without seven injured players — Sead Kolasinac, Giorgio Scalvini, Isak Hien, Odilon Kossounou, Franck Kessie, Giacomo Raspadori and Kamaldeen Sulemana — with Bellanova now added to that list. Sarri admitted to DAZN, in quotes reported by Football Italia: "We gifted two goals, yet we got back into the game and threatened to take all three points. We feared this fixture, because Frosinone were fresher and have a very troublesome way of playing. Don't forget, Como are the best passing side in Serie A, and they lost 2-0 to Frosinone."
The wider Serie A picture is just as striking. On a weekend that also brought the stoppage-time drama of Inter beating Fiorentina 2-1 and Saturday's Napoli 3-3 Roma draw, the promoted side from Ciociaria now sit above Atalanta in the table — and on this evidence, sixth place flatters nobody. Alvini's team have lost only to Napoli in a run that has carried them to 14 points, playing the most fearless football in the division.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this was glorious entertainment and a damning Atalanta performance at the same time. Scoring four at home and not winning is not bad luck when you gift the first goal after 30 seconds and defend this loosely — Sarri's project is leaking at exactly the moment the fixture list turns cruel. Frosinone, by contrast, are the story of Serie A's autumn: a promoted side refusing every script written for them. Was this a point gained for Atalanta — or two more dropped in a season that is quietly slipping away?
