Date: July 8, 2020
Time: 15:45 EST
Serie A just got real for Atalanta. After a wild Tuesday that saw Lazio lose at the hands of Lecce, and Juventus handed its 4th defeat of the season against AC Milan, Atalanta can start sniffing the high ranks of the table. Now I’m not going to sit here and write that Atalanta can legitimately contend for the Scudetto now, but if they can manage a victory against Juventus, and beat Samp tomorrow, it’s only a 6-point margin to the Old Lady (not to mention a 2 point margin to Lazio with the tie breaker in hand).
After a ugly win against Cagliari, Atalanta has made it 8 Serie A wins in a row, with a chance to keep rolling on against relegation contenders Sampdoria. Their last match out against each other was none too fortunate for Atalanta who worked hard for a drab 0-0 draw in Genoa (their only goalless match of the season). Better luck is hopefully in the cards this time around as Gasperini has started working more players into the lineup beyond his usual suspects. Malinovskyi (who got a double yellow last time out against Samp) has been looking excellent filling in for Ilicic, and even Tameze filled in admirably for Freuler in his starting debut last time out against Cagliari (even good enough for Radio Dea’s Man of the Match), and Castagne has been spirited playing both wing positions with extra tenacity (hopefully not to make a bigger name for himself on the transfer market).
Although Atalanta only managed 1 goal against a spirited Cagliari side who had an early goal disallowed, Atalanta still had their chances, hit the post twice, and probably should have secured at least 3 goals in the match. Normally I’d be a bit concerned going into a classic trap game like this; however, such a narrow victory against a 10-man squad that was literally not over until the final whistle is hopefully just enough to keep La Dea focused on the mission at hand, especially now with a real possibility to leapfrog Inter and creep closer to Lazio. Papu and Duvan got their rest, and I imagine Duvan is licking his chops to get at his former club who so stupifyingly sent him to us after a strong season in Genoa. Atalanta have the cards in their hands to make the top-4 even more interesting tomorrow, so lets hope for the 3 points and to put a little bit of a shudder in Inter, Lazio, and why not even Juventus. Forza Atalanta!
