Young Mendy scores twice to help Cagliari secure narrow win over Atalanta in thrilling five goal encounter

Cagliari enjoyed an ideal opening to the match, racing ahead after just 15 seconds when Michel Adopo delivered a cross into the box that Paul Mendy nodded in, marking his debut start in Serie A.

The 19 year old Mendy and his colleagues were ecstatic only seven minutes on, as he netted again to extend the hosts lead.

Following a corner that Atalanta failed to defend properly, Alessandro Deiola saw his first attempt repelled by Marco Carnesecchi, but Mendys follow up rebounded off the unlucky Berat Djimsiti and found the bottom right corner.

Atalanta appeared short of ideas during a substandard opening period, yet they surprisingly levelled the scores in the dying moments of the first half.

Gianluca Scamacca slotted a right footed shot from within the penalty area into the far corner to reduce the gap, then swiftly added a second by finishing Giorgio Scalvinis low pass from near the goal line, leaving Cagliari and its fans in shock.

Injury hit Mendy was substituted at the interval and thus missed a chance for a debut hat trick, yet the change did not hinder Cagliari, who regained their advantage under two minutes into the second half when Gennaro Borrelli capitalised on a loose ball after Michael Folorunshos blocked shot.

Cagliari had only triumphed once in their last 10 league fixtures (D2 L7), but on this occasion they showed fresh assurance in resisting any response from Atalanta, whose lone notable effort in a lacklustre second period arrived eight minutes before full time, with Nikola Krstovic seeing his close range volley expertly stopped by Elia Caprile.

In the end, the victory allows Cagliari to create an eight point cushion above the drop zone with four matches left, whereas Atalanta confront a steep challenge to secure European qualification, staying in seventh position and trailing the sixth spot by seven points.