Gasperini's substitutions make an impact as Atalanta beats Cagliari to stay atop Serie A

MILAN (AP) — A week after being named Serie A coach of the month, Gian Piero Gasperini showed why he is also a contender for coach of the year again.

Gasperini’s substitutions had an immediate impact as Atalanta won at lowly Cagliari 1-0 on Saturday for a club record 10th straight league victory. That ensured Atalanta will end the weekend on top of the table.

Atalanta remained two points above second-placed Napoli, which fought back to beat Udinese 3-1.

Juventus — the only unbeaten team in Serie A — hosted bottom club Venezia later.

Atalanta struggled to break down Cagliari in the first half and had Marco Carnesecchi to thank for it not being behind at the interval. The visiting goalkeeper pulled off impressive stops, including a fantastic triple save before the break.

Gasperini was clearly not happy with his team and made three changes at halftime and Atalanta immediately improved.

The coach made another two substitutions in the 64th minute, sending on the fresh legs of Nicolò Zaniolo and Lazar Samardzic for Mario Pasalic and Charles De Ketelaere.

The duo helped to break the deadlock two minutes later. Samardzic found Raoul Bellanova on the right side of the area and he knocked it back for Zaniolo to slot into the near bottom corner from close range.

Gasperini, who has been in charge of Atalanta for eight years, was the coach of the year in 2019 and 2020. Last week, he picked up the monthly award for November.

Atalanta won the Europa League last season but has never won Serie A. It achieved its highest finish of third place three times under Gasperini.

Cagliari gave an impressive performance but remained just two points above the relegation zone.

Napoli recovered from a dismal week in which it lost the Serie A lead and went out of the Italian Cup after two straight losses — both to Lazio.

Napoli also went behind in the 22nd minute on Saturday when Udinese was awarded a penalty for a Stanislav Lobotka handball.

Alex Meret parried Florian Thauvin's spot kick but he pushed it back only to the Udinese captain, who fired the rebound into the opposite corner.

Romelu Lukaku leveled five minutes after the break after running onto Scott McTominay's throughball and holding off Lautaro Giannetti.

The Udinese defender was even more unfortunate in the 76th when he attempted to clear David Neres' shot but succeeded only in turning it into his own net. Frank Anguissa sealed the win five minutes later.

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Napoli's David Neres fights for the ball with Udinese's Kingsley Ehizibue during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Napoli at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)

Udinese's Florian Thauvin, right, celebrates after scoring a goal during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Napoli at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)

Udinese's Florian Thauvin, left, scores a goal during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Napoli at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Romelu Lukaku celebrates after scoring the 1-1 goal for his team during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Napoli at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Romelu Lukaku celebrates after scoring the 1-1 goal for his team during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Napoli at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)

Atalanta's midfielder Mario Pasalic shoots at the goal during the Serie A soccer match between Cagliari Calcio and Atalanta at the Unipol Domus in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Gianluca Zuddas/LaPresse via AP)

Atalanta's streaker Nicolò Zaniolo celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Serie A soccer match between Cagliari Calcio and Atalanta at the Unipol Domus in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Gianluca Zuddas/LaPresse via AP)

Atalanta's coach Gian Piero Gasperini shouts instructions during the Serie A soccer match between Cagliari Calcio and Atalanta at the Unipol Domus in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Gianluca Zuddas/LaPresse via AP)

Atalanta's streaker Nicolò Zaniolo celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Serie A soccer match between Cagliari Calcio and Atalanta at the Unipol Domus in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Gianluca Zuddas/LaPresse via AP)

Top diplomats from the United States, the Arab League and Turkey met in Jordan on Saturday to discuss how to assist Syria ’s transition after the fall of Bashar Assad's government a week ago. No Syrian representatives attended.

The collapse of the Assad family’s more than half-century of rule has sparked new fears of instability in a region already shaken by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and hostilities between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah despite a tenuous ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said American officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian insurgent group that led the overthrow of Assad’s government, but the group continues to be designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others.

The insurgent leader in an interview with Syrian TV didn't mention contact with the U.S., but he warned Israel about the hundreds of airstrikes it has carried out in Syria in the past week.

The U.S. is also making a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the war has plunged more than 2 million Palestinians into a severe humanitarian crisis.

Here's the latest:

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Witnesses and medical officials are reporting more Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Four people were killed late Saturday in an airstrike on a tent in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Elsewhere, Palestinian medical officials said an airstrike killed at least seven people, including a woman and her baby, in Gaza City. The strike hit the Majda Wasilla school, which shelters many displaced families, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies.

Ataf Saadat, a woman sheltering in the school, said the baby killed was two days old. “There were those who were burned, and those who were cut up, and the rubble was on top of them,” Saadat said.

Israel’s military said it struck Hamas fighters at a command center in a compound previously used as a school.

A joint statement after a ministerial meeting on Syria's future is calling for all parties to cease hostilities there and expresses support for a locally led transitional political process.

The statement was issued Saturday after a meeting in Jordan by several Arab nations, the United States, Turkey, the European Union and others. It called for preventing the reemergence of extremist groups in Syria and ensuring the security and safe destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles. It also expressed full support for Syria’s territorial integrity.

A separate statement issued by Arab foreign ministers called for U.N.-supervised elections based on a new constitution approved by Syrians. That statement also condemned Israel’s incursion into the buffer zone with Syria and adjacent sites over the past week as a “heinous occupation” and demands the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants says the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria has cut a main supply line for the group but it can find other ways to bring in weapons.

Hezbollah was a main backer of Assad and sent thousands of fighters to Syria over the past decade. And for decades, Hezbollah relied on Syria as a channel for weapons from the militant group's main backer, Iran.

In his first public comments in the week since Assad’s fall, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem in a televised speech Saturday said Hezbollah has lost the military supply line through Syria but the new authority there might reinstate the route. Otherwise, he said, “we might find other ways.”

Kassem also said Hezbollah hopes the new authority in Syria will consider Israel an enemy.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The head of the Syrian insurgent group that led the overthrow of Bashar Assad's government says they are not about to enter a conflict with Israel. But Ahmad al-Sharaa in his first public comments on Israel in the week since Assad's fall said “the pretexts that Israel uses have ended" for its airstrikes inside Syria in recent days.

Al-Sharaa said “the Israelis have crossed the rules of engagement” in his interview with Syrian TV on Saturday. About 400 Israeli airstrikes in the past days have destroyed much of the Syrian army's assets.

Al-Sharaa leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. The excerpts released from his interview did not address contact with the United States, which on Saturday said had been in direct communication with HTS, which it designated a foreign terrorist organization years ago.

The HTS leader did say the new authorities in Damascus are in contact with Western embassies, and that authorities have a plan to start reconstruction and development in Syria. He did not give details.

He added that the authorities have given Russia — a key backer of Assad — an opportunity to reconsider relations with the Syrian people, and that authorities are not hostile to the people of Iran, another Assad backer.

AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says American officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that led the overthrow of President Bashar Assad’s government a week ago, but the group continues to be designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others.

Blinken is the first U.S. official to publicly confirm contacts between the Biden administration and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which ousted Assad. Speaking at a news conference in Jordan, Blinken would not discuss details of the contacts but said it was important for the U.S. to convey messages to the group about its conduct and how it intends to govern in a transition period.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say at least 10 people were killed Saturday in an Israeli airstrike that apparently targeted a municipal meeting in central Gaza.

The officials said the strike hit the municipality complex for Deir al-Balah city as officials from central and southern Gaza met to coordinate how to receive vehicles provided by the United Arab Emirates.

The complex includes a building used by the Hamas-run interior ministry and is surrounded by a public market, which was crowded when the strike occurred.

Among the dead were a mother and her 5-year-old daughter, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital and an AP journalist at the morgue. The dead also include Diab al-Garu, head of the Deir al-Balah municipality, the hospital said.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas fighter in a compound it said was used to plan attacks.

ISTANBUL — Turkey reopened its embassy in Syria on Saturday, becoming the first country to do so since the end of Bashar Assad’s rule last weekend. The Syrian insurgents who overthrew Assad had received vital help from Turkey.

The Turkish flag was raised above the compound in Damascus for the first time since diplomatic ties were cut in 2012. The embassy suspended operations 12 years ago due to insecurity during the Syrian civil war.

Several countries maintained diplomatic ties with Assad's government during the 13-year conflict, while others reopened their diplomatic missions in recent years as they sought to normalize relations.

AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says broad consensus exists among regional partners that Syria’s new government must be inclusive, must respect women and minority rights, reject terrorism and secure and destroy suspected Assad-era chemical weapons stockpiles.

Blinken is wrapping up a three-country regional tour in Aqaba after visiting Iraq, Turkey and Jordan once already this week.

Earlier Saturday in a meeting with U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson, Blinken said he expected to talk about the challenges ahead for Syria and “our determination to work together to support a Syrian-led transition where the United Nations plays a critical role, particularly when it comes to the provision of assistance, to the protection of minorities.”

Pederson agreed, saying: “What is so critical in Syria is that we see a credible and inclusive political process that brings together all communities in Syria. And the second point is that we need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible. And if we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.”

In announcing Saturday’s meetings, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the ministers would “discuss ways to support a comprehensive political process led by Syrians to achieve a transitional process,” which “ensures the reconstruction of Syrian state institutions, and preserves Syria’s unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty, security, stability, and the rights of all its citizens.”

A Syrian fighter from rebel group, observes a prison room at the security detention center called Palestine Branch in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves after delivering a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

A girl plays atop a tank on display near the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing, between Israel and Syria, as seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Syrian naval vessels are seen destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last week in the port of Latakia, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

A Syrian fighter from rebel group, fires towards a poster at the entrance of the notorious security detention centre called Palestine Branch, which pictures the late Syrian President Hafez Assad and his son the ouster Syrian president Bashar Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Syrian fighter from rebel group, uses his knife to tear a poster at the entrance to the notorious security detention centre called Palestine Branch, which shows the ouster Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A torn posters shows the late Syrian President Hafez Assad and his son the ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad, that were set at the entrance of the notorious security detention centre called Palestine Branch, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, left, and Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, speaks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

A Syrian fighter from rebel group, fires towards a poster at the entrance of the notorious security detention centre called Palestine Branch, which pictures the late Syrian President Hafez Assad and his son the ouster Syrian president Bashar Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken browses a phone while riding in a helicopter on the way back from the US Embassy headquarters to Baghdad airport ahead of his departure on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken greets officials after disembarking a US military aircraft in Jordan's Red Sea resort of Aqaba, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

The United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen speaks during his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

The United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen speaks during his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, right, in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his meeting with the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)