Cagliari-Atalanta 2-2 in the 45th minute: Mendy's brace is answered by Scamacca's one.

Cagliari and Atalanta had a thrilling first half, which ended 2-2. Paul Mendy's brace, a record-breaking 16-second lead, was matched by Gianluca Scamacca's late equalizer.

Among the big changes to Cagliari's lineup, Fabio Pisacane having dropped Marco Palestra , is Paul Mendy's starting debut, having previously only played as a substitute. And after 16 seconds, despite Atalanta kicking off, he's incredibly already scored. Adopo recovers, Folorunsho passes the ball back to him, and the number 8 crosses from the right (with plenty of space) into the center of the area, where Mendy, completely alone, heads in. Cagliari got off to a sensational start, scoring the fastest goal in the club's Serie A history.

Mendy barely had time to record his precocious record before he struck again in the 8th minute. Raspadori gave Cagliari a corner with a completely misplaced back pass. From the corner, Deiola fired into the box, but Carnesecchi saved. Scamacca failed to clear, and Mendy, with a deflection off Djimsiti, found the right path to make it 2-0 . It couldn't have started better.

Atalanta's first chance came in the 23rd minute, with a free kick from Raspadori on the right, Djimsiti's header going over at the far post. But Cagliari could have made it three in the 29th minute on a counterattack started by Folorunsho, with Esposito playing it to Adopo on the right, alone in front of Carnesecchi, who passed it to Deiola in the center of the box, who was beaten to the tap-in .

A low, diagonal shot from Folorunsho in the 37th minute went just wide, a sign of Cagliari's excellent control of the game. But, surprisingly, Atalanta pulled one back in the 40th minute: De Ketelaere's shot on the left was blocked, but the ball fell to Scamacca, who slotted the ball into the far post to make it 2-1 .

The striker halves the deficit and the match changes. Atalanta, incredibly, find the equalizer in the 45th minute: Cagliari are caught out by a quickly taken free kick in midfield, the former Bellanova player finds Scalvini in the box on the right and his low cross finds Scamacca – lost by Zé Pedro – who turns it in . He also scores a brace. In the five minutes of added time, Bellanova crosses and Rodríguez risks something, but Caprile saves the deflection in the center of the area.