Date: February 15, 2020
Time: 2:45 EST
The battle for 4th place gets real this weekend as Atalanta face off against their closest competition to the final Champion’s League spot, AC Roma. Roma have been scuffling of late with two straight losses, and only earning a draw against Lazio in the Rome Derby. With only 3 points separating the two clubs, Atalanta are truly in the driver’s seat to take a commanding lead over Roma and cement themselves as the best of the rest after Juventus, Inter, and Lazio.
While Atalanta have been road warriors this year, Roma have been equally good on the road as of late with 3 victories in their last 5 Serie A games, as well as a goalless draw against Inter. However, Roma’s road form is almost a moot point as they seemed to have the soul ripped out of them after drawing Lazio in a game they dominated and should have won. Prone to mistakes at the back recently, Ilicic and Gomez need to keep the pressure on the Roma backline and keep Smalling and former Atalanta product Gianluca Mancini busy with relentless balls into the box.
Perhaps the most important factor in this game will be how Gasperini manages rest and playing time with a midweek Champion’s League bout against Valencia coming only 4 days after Saturday’s match. Gasperini demonstrated he was not scared to use his starters consistently both in Serie A and Champion’s League during the group stages. I imagine he will have no inhibitions in driving hard both against Roma and Valencia; yet, with more depth options as his disposal now (with Caldara, Tameze, and Zapata [injured for most of group] now available) there still is an opportunity for some creativity with the lineups. While there’s an opportunity, Gasperini is a very predictable man. I would like to see him work Caldara into the lineup more, and I did like what I saw from Tameze in the brief minute he featured; but in this match I cannot see Gasp going away from his tried and true lineup. Pasalic has been a little off the last few games, so the only real “shake-up” could be both de Roon and Freuler manning the mid-field (although perhaps Malinovskyi has earned a start?).
While advancing in Champion’s League would be a remarkable accomplishment, personally I believe getting back there next is equally if not more important, and Roma is the club with the most realistic chance of knocking La Dea out of 4th. An Atalanta victory means a 6 point advantage over Roma, and firm control over the final Champion’s League spot. Atalanta already demonstrated the ability to silence a full strength Roma squad by beating them 2-0 at the Olimpico back in September. And now with Zaniolo out, Atalanta needs to smell blood and go for the kill, and not think too far ahead to the match against Valencia. Fortunately, going for the kill is Gasperini’s specialty and I wouldn’t expect anything less than an all-out attack against Roma’s defense. This is arguably the most important game of the season coming up for La Dea, and they need to capitalize when it matters and continue to demonstrate they belong among Italy’s elite clubs. As always, I cannot wait for Saturday, and Forza Atalanta!
