Date: February 24, 2021
Time: 21:00 CET
The giants from Madrid are coming to sleepy Bergamo! The most decorated club in the history of European football – while not what they may have once been – are still an iconic opponent, and one that will grace Atalanta’s history books when we look back on this golden period. Perhaps what is more wild is the strong chances of Atalanta putting a dagger in Madrid’s Champion’s League hopes. Fighting off a slew of injuries, Madrid barely has enough starters to field a healthy starting XI of senior players, and the bookies have taken notice. Not only do La Dea have a puncher’s chance of winning on Wednesday, but according to Betfair, Atalanta is favored at 2.3 versus Madrid’s odds at 2.9 (the draw is 3.7)! Winning the odds game on paper is one thing, but we have to come through on the pitch and actually do it. Confidence will be and should be high, it all comes down to playing consistently for 90 minutes and avoiding any major relapses in in-game form.
Madrid Injury Concerns
As previously mentioned, Atalanta has the (mis)fortune of playing against a severely depleted Madrid squad. In no particular order Ramos, Benzema, Rodrygo, Hazard, Carvajal, Militao, Odriozola, Marcelo, and Valverde are all unavailable for the blancos. Even with the quality depth Madrid has, this is a significant laundry list of players unavailable for any club and an enormous hurdle to overcome (especially one fighting on multiple fronts). Zidane will have to continue to be awfully creative in his lineup tinkering to fill gaping holes particularly at right back and striker. Without attacking staple Karim Benzema, Madrid is forced to lead the line with Mariano Diaz who’s featured a whopping 300 minutes in La Liga this year. No disrespect to the dual Spanish Dominican national, but he’s not Benzema and should hopefully give Romero freedom to contest the speed of Vinicius (who still scares me the most in attack, given the rockets he has for feet).
While the injury concerns are notable, Real Madrid is still afforded the luxury of having their world-class midfield intact with Kroos, Modric, and Casemiro all healthy. These three alone can keep Madrid in any game purely from their class, and will give Freuler, Pessina, and de Roon all they can handle. If the Atalanta midfield triangle can match the intensity of Madrid’s unit it will be huge for La Dea, as they can then exploit and expose other areas of weakness on the pitch. A big ask, but doable…
Who Starts in Attack?
Before Sunday, this was a pretty easy answer. Gasperini was most likely resting Ilicic to have him fresh as possible for Wednesday, but then Luis Muriel came through and had one of his best matches in an Atalanta shirt. A brilliant goal, a perfect assist, and an excellent corner to spur a flick-on takes the plaudits, but everything Muriel did with his pace, dribbling, and pressing now makes you question if the Colombians should be leading the line again? It has become an extremely difficult question to answer. Should Gasperini ride the hot hand of Muriel, or opt for Ilicic, or even a third option of starting both Ilicic and Muriel up front? I won’t even venture a guess as to what Gasperini will do, but its fantastic to have a plethora of options to tinker and make midgame adjustments if need be.
Defensive Responsibilities
The key to the match is for Atalanta to ensure that they play 90 minutes of consistent football. Similar to the matches against Liverpool and Ajax, I would not be surprised to see a more tempered approach much more concerned with a strong press and consistent work in cutting off passing lanes. And to be fair, when Atalanta does this, it has been effective. The only key is to not fall asleep for a 10 minute spell as they’ve been apt to do recently. Bologna, Benevento, Torino, and Napoli in the Coppa all come to mind this season when Atalanta just seemed to take their foot off the gas ever so slightly, letting opponents nearly or fully sneak back into the match. Naturally everything starts with a cohesive defense and works up from that. No loosely marking players, making strong clearances, covering overlaps, and perhaps most importantly not taking the foot off the gas if Atalanta has the fortune to go up a goal. Keep the same intensity, unlike the PSG match last year, and keep doing what got you to this point. Percassi made an apt comment that playing Real Madrid is like going to university. The PSG match was their college prep course, now its time to go for the Dean’s List!
This year, like last year, no one really has grand expectations for Atalanta outside their own faithful. While a bit unfair – should give them the confidence to both prove doubters wrong and play loosely and freely. All the pressure is on Madrid to advance, and Atalanta should go out playing loosely and freely. A cleansheet would be a wonderful midweek surprise, but for now let’s go out and make Bergamaschi everywhere proud! Let’s do it boys, and as always Forza Atalanta!
