Atalanta BC coach Edoardo Reja has described the 4-1 loss to Genoa as a "painless defeat" after results elsewhere on Sunday secured their Serie A safety this season.
Cagliari lost 1-0 to Palermo in a must-win game to render anything that happened at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia as meaningless in the context of relegation.
"There has never been such a painless defeat," he told Sky Sport Italia. "We wanted to get a positive result today, but ran into a Genoa side that was in great shape and extremely motivated.
"After the break, when news filtered through that Cagliari were losing, we did seem to lay off the intensity and didn't play the way we should've done.
"To be safe with two rounds to spare is an excellent result."
Both sides went into the break with one goal apiece after Leonardo Pavoletti cancelled out Mauricio Pinilla's 18th-minute penalty for the hosts.
However, the floodgates opened on 57 minutes when Andrea Bertolacci fired Genoa ahead, before Iago Falque grabbed a brace to complete the scoring.
