Daniel Maldini is still an Atalanta player, and his penalty was the first one converted in Serie A this season
Cagliari won 2-1 in Bergamo through a spot-kick taken by a forward Atalanta still own. It was the first penalty anyone had scored in Serie A all season.
Sep 13, 2026
Daniel Maldini still belongs to Atalanta. He spent Saturday evening in Bergamo proving how little that means once a loan deal is signed, standing over a penalty in front of the home crowd and beating Marco Carnesecchi with a stuttering run-up that sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. Cagliari won 2-1.
Serie A had gone 31 games without one
The penalty was remarkable for a reason that had nothing to do with who took it. Serie A opened the 2026-27 season with 31 matches that produced no penalties and no VAR reviews at all. The first spot-kick of the campaign went to Genoa against Frosinone, and Lorenzo Colombo side-footed it wide. Maldini’s, on 61 minutes at the New Balance Arena, was the second awarded in 34 games and the first anyone had actually scored.
It came from a Romano free kick that Sead Kolasinac met with an arm flailing above his head. There was not much argument about it.
Atalanta had the ball and lost the game
Cagliari were ahead inside 20 minutes. Michel Adopo got in behind the Atalanta back line and squared it for Paul Mendy, who turned the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. Gianluca Scamacca levelled four minutes before the interval with a finish into the far corner.
Atalanta finished with 62 per cent of the ball and nothing to show for it. Cagliari defended the box, took their two chances and went home with three points.
The loan that keeps getting more awkward for Bergamo
Maldini joined Cagliari in August on loan until June 2027, a deal worth 1.5 million euros with a 9 million euro option to buy that turns into an obligation if Cagliari stay up and he reaches ten goals. He had arrived at Atalanta from Monza in January 2025 and managed three goals in 22 appearances across two half-seasons.
The man in the home dugout knows him better than most. Maurizio Sarri coached Maldini at Lazio in the second half of last season before Atalanta appointed him in June, replacing the sacked Raffaele Palladino. Sarri got a close look at what he had let go.
Cagliari keep doing this away from home
Fabio Pisacane’s side are on nine points from four matches. They have won their first two away games of a Serie A season for only the third time in the club’s history, and they have now beaten Atalanta twice in a row for the first time since 2018, having won the previous meeting 3-2 at home in April.
Atalanta stay on six. Sarri takes his side to face Juventus next, while Cagliari travel to Udinese, and one of those two teams currently looks a lot more settled than the other.