UECL | Atalanta 1-1 Kairat Almaty: Dea crisis drags on with meagre point

UECL | Atalanta 1-1 Kairat Almaty: Dea crisis drags on with meagre point The Atalanta wait for a victory drags on to seven matches, as they scraped a 1-1 draw with Kairat Almaty in the Conference League thanks to Nikola Krstovic. La Dea were in crisis after scraping two draws from six competitive games, culminating in a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Parma on Monday , so went into a three-day training retreat to prepare for this match. Thomas Kristensen, Gianluca Gaetano, Raoul Bellanova, Franck Kessie, Sead Kolasinac, Isak Hien, Giacomo Raspadori and Odilon Kossounou were injured, so youth team defender Javison Idele made his first start. They beat Pafos 3-1, but then lost 2-0 away to Ajax in this tournament. Kairat Almaty dropped out of the Champions League and Europa League preliminary rounds after winning the Kazakhstan title, drawing at Riga and losing 5-1 to Panathinaikos in the Conference League.  Striker Jorginho had been out since July with a torn ACL, but this was only their second game under caretaker manager Zhora Arutyunyan. See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog. BERGAMO, ITALY – NOVEMBER 05: Supporters of Atalanta BC ahead the UEFA Conference League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and FC Kairat Almaty at Stadio di Bergamo on November 05, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Antonino Lagana/Getty Images) Jonathan Rowe stung the goalkeeper’s gloves from the edge of the area, then nodded over as the move continued. Kairat almost scored a comical own goal when Damir Kassabulat didn’t look at his goalkeeper for a back pass, dribbling it wide of an open goal after 11 minutes. A ferocious Rowe strike from outside the box was acrobatically palmed out from under the bar, while Marco Carnesecchi needed a double save on Alexandr Mrynskiy and the Gustavo Mendonca follow-up. Atalanta should’ve taken the lead on the half-hour with a well-worked passing move, but Mario Pasalic only grazed the outside of the near post from close range. BERGAMO, ITALY – NOVEMBER 05: Kamaldeen Sulemana of Atalanta BC competes for the ball with Jaakko Oksanen of FC Kairat Almaty during the UEFA Conference League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and FC Kairat Almaty at Stadio di Bergamo on November 05, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Antonino Lagana/Getty Images) La Dea were caught out on a classic counter-attack with an Edmilson pass from the centre-circle to send Marc Gual running against two defenders, beating the on-rushing Carnesecchi. Idele couldn’t keep the volley down from seven yards on the Nicola Zalewski cross, while when Eljif Elmas did have the ball in the net on 65 minutes, he was offside to redirect the wayward Zalewski strike. Elmas put real power behind his curling attempt from the edge of the box, forcing a flying save from the Kairat Almaty goalkeeper. BERGAMO, ITALY – NOVEMBER 05: Javison Idele of Atalanta BC during the UEFA Conference League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and FC Kairat Almaty at Stadio di Bergamo on November 05, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Antonino Lagana/Getty Images) There was another tough save on the Ederson half-volley from close range and Atalanta equalised on the resulting flapped corner, as it was knocked back from the by-line by Relja Obric for Nikola Krstovic to bundle over the line from six yards. Atalanta pushed to the bitter end and had a huge chance to win it in stoppages, but Mario Pasalic couldn’t keep the finish on target. Marc Gual 53 (K), Krstovic 82 (A)