After nearly stifling Real Madrid to a scoreless draw, Atalanta has no option but to win on Tuesday against a healthier Real Madrid. We can talk for hours about Freuler’s red card, and if it was indeed justified; but that isn’t healthy for anyone at this point. The match occurred too long ago, and we know what we have to do now. Two goals and we are sitting relatively pretty, but can it be done against a revived Madrid backline that now has Sergio Ramos?
Given the serious injury concerns Madrdid endured in the first leg, everything was looking peachy for Atalanta. However, someone had a different plan, and Atalanta were forced to play 70+ minutes with 10 men and sit in a low block nearly the entire match. And they nearly pulled it out! A 30 yard strike was the end all for Atalanta to hold a clean sheet, but the boys should still hold their heads high for the defensive fortitude demonstrated. The defensive performance several weeks back cannot be understated, and is what led Atalanta to still be in a decent position to pull out a major upsdet on the road.
Tuesday will be different a much different opponent than what Atalanta saw in the first leg. Benzema is back and already back firing on all cylinders. He truly is Madrid’s piston that keeps it’s offense chugging, and everything is different with him in the lineup. He saved them with a brace against Elche over the weekend, and is a constant source of offense for Real, either through goals or distribution and link-up play. Watching either Romero or Djimsiti going toe to toe with the Frenchman will be an excellent battle, equal to that of the battle between Djimi and Lukaku last week.
Oppositely, equally enthralling will be the Spanish speaking battle between Duvan Zapata and Sergio Ramos. Zapata was denied a chance to make an impact on the first match after picking up a knock, and will be licking his chops to contribute offensively. While his goal scoring hasn’t been elite this year, he’s still been good distributing the ball and being an overall nuisance to opposing defenses. Whether he scores or not, having him keep Ramos’s hands full will be essential to claw back the goals necessary to advance.
Zapata’s an obvious choice to start up front for me, but who will join him up front? Pasalic and Pessina are viable options after Pasalic’s excellent match against Spezia and we all know what Pessina brings to the table. Options are good, but give me Pasalic as he looks to have gained some confidence back and Pessina will have to fill in on the double pivot for the absent Freuler. The same question can come on the second striker; Muriel or Ilicic? Ilicic didn’t do himself any favors in the first leg, but at the same time he’s not the greatest option to play defense on the powerplay. The Slovenian should be the best option considering his ability to be unplayable on his day (on his day being the key phrase), but I believe we need a little more directness to force some backline errors; so give me a Colombian front line with Zapata and Muriel up front!
1-0 Atalanta we go to Pens, 2-1 we go through. Three goals would just be icing on the cake, and with Atalanta you never know what they’ll bring. More than anything, I’m just hoping for a team that is out to show heart, honor, and do the citizens of Bergamo proud. For the second consecutive year, they’re going up against a giant of Europe with a budget that pales in comparison. Advancement would be great, but if it doesn’t happen, the club still has every reason to hold its head high by continuously bucking every major trend we’ve come to expect in football. Let’s try to shock the world again on Tuesday guys! As always, Forza Dea!
