Date: June 24, 2020
Time: 15:45 EST
Redemption is on the way! Atalanta is looking for revenge against surprise Scudetto contenders Lazio, who have not lost since they clawed their way back from a 3-0 deficit against La Dea back in October. A painful game, with an extremely questionable penalty call at the end saw Ciro Immobile net an extra time penalty to steal an important two points away from La Dea. Now its time for payback, and with a match under their belt where we saw Atalanta play Atalanta football it should be a cracker of a match.
After a Juventus victory against Bologna, Lazio need three points against La Dea to stay within a point of The Old Lady. So in reality, if you’re in the anyone but Juventus camp for the Scudetto race, a Lazio victory isn’t really the worst thing in the world. An Atalanta victory means a 4-point gap between the top-2, and probably Juventus’s first step towards building the gap between them Lazio and the rest of the league. Inter are at this point are severe outsiders, so our hope lies with Lazio to knock off Juventus and no one else. Unless La Dea win out!!!!
So this match can be thought of in two ways:
- Atalanta victory to continue their ascent, perhaps close the gap to Inter in 3rd, and continue to hold off Roma
- Atalanta defeat means Lazio stay close to Juventus, but Atalanta could see their gap to 4th dwindle as Roma plays relegation candidate Sampdoria
At the end of the day, what do we want? Are we confident Atalanta can keep up their insane form and one defeat doesn’t really matter? For the sake of Serie A, is it better to have a different Scudetto champ for the first time in years? Honestly I’m still torn….La Dea still have matches against seemingly resurgent Milan and Napoli, plus matches against Inter and Juventus, so we really do need all the points we can get with a tough slate of games over the next month. I can wax hypothetical all day about the Scudetto race, but I know at the end of the day, once the whistle blows all the philosophy will blow out the window, and I’ll still be cheering for a full three points against Lazio. Especially after the ugliness that was the first game between the two clubs. Wednesday will be a firecracker of a game, and a definite must watch. As always, Forza Atalanta, and let’s pray for a Juve loss against Lecce on Friday (let’s pray real hard!).
