De Ketelaere forces Atalanta into last-minute change ahead of Cremonese | OneFootball

Charles De Ketelaere was initially named in the Atalanta starting line-up to take on Cremonese in Serie A on Monday evening, but the Belgium international was forced to drop out at the last minute.

De Ketelaere drops out of Atalanta line-up at the last minute

De Ketelaere felt something in his knee during the warm-up ahead of Monday’s Serie A clash between Atalanta and Cremonese at the New Balance Arena and was unable to take his place in the starting line-up. That made for an opportunity for Lazar Samardzic to play instead.

You can follow the action from Monday evening’s Serie A matches on the Football Italia Liveblog.

VERONA, ITALY – DECEMBER 06: Charles De Ketelaere of Atalanta looks on during the Serie A match between Hellas Verona FC and Atalanta BC at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on December 06, 2025 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Raffaele Palladino already had injuries in mind when naming his starting line-up. Gianluca Scamacca started and scored in the 3-0 Coppa Italia victory over Juventus on Thursday, but reported a minor issue in training ahead of the Cremonese match and was also unavailable to start.

Nikola Krstovic started at centre-forward instead and opened the scoring for La Dea within 13 minutes against Cremonese.