Date: July 24, 2020
Time: 15:45 EST
The Christmas Massacre was something to behold. Donning their green shirts, Atalanta stunned the world and drilled a floundering Milan team into the ground in a dominant 5-0 victory. It was an historic victory in multiple ways. It truly cemented Atalanta as a force to be reckoned with as a relentless attacking squad, taking no prisoners and one of the best sides in Serie A. Oppositely, it marked the absolute floor for Milan who were firmly stuck mid-table with no real answer on what to do or what their identity was.
Perhaps thanks to Atalanta, Milan finally got their act together for 2020. Ibrahimovic came on board, and Pioli finally got his boys playing like a team that many have grown accustomed to that had previously donned the red and black. Now, the two hottest teams in Serie A since COVID face off to see who blinks first.
No stranger to San Siro, Atalanta go into Friday’s match with 2nd place solely theirs and theirs to lose. Thanks to Fiorentina’s nil-nil draw at Inter, Atalanta is in charge of it’s destiny to finish in 2nd, should that be in their plans. Gasperini has said numerous times how PSG is firmly on his find, and with Champion’s League plus a plethora of other records already locked up, how much value is their for Gasp and Atalanta to finish in 2nd? To me, fatigue has begun to run its course across Atalanta and the league as a whole. Djimsiti, Palomino, and Zapata all came off against Bologna with knocks, though none of them serious, a foolish injury due to fatigue would be a horrible way to lose a key player before the Champion’s League Quarterfinals. Especially Zapata, the man has been possessed since the break, equally scoring and contributing to the offense, and is thoroughly prepared to dish out pain to a questionable PSG defense. Ultimately at this point, I’m not against resting and rotating the squad to ensure guys get their minutes, but also their rest. Especially the big guns, Zapata, Papu, and Ilicic (to a degree, more below).
Personally I really liked the Colley, Muriel front-line. Two burners up at the front is a unique look for Atalanta and provides the possibility for Muriel to reach 20 Serie A goals (he’s at 18), and Colley to continue fine-tuning his technique. Colley has already demonstrated a unique ability to create for himself, his finishing just needs works. Of course that should come with time, but the more game time he can get, the more confidence he will gain. Like Zapata, injury risk with Muriel is always a concern (as it any player), but I just feel his game of pace and not taking on defenders body-to-body makes him less of a risk to pick up an unfortunate knock.
While conservation is the name of the game at this point of the season, the victory is of course still within Atalanta’s grasp. Although Milan has been scorching hot, they’ll be missing key players to injury in Conti and Romagnoli, and others due to suspension in Theo and Bennacer. While Milan has been firing on all cylinders, those will be big losses and could push the tide in Atalanta’s favor regardless of which lineup they roll with. The big wildcard will still be if Ilicic will play. Although he’s had a few minutes on the pitch, he’s barely played since the restart, as it’s evident that he’s on his own recovery program to prepare for the Champion’s League. Eventually he’ll need playing time, and I’m curious if Gasp will bring him off the bench to add some flair to the attack after scoring a brace against Milan in the Christmas massacre. Game time is running short, so eventually he’ll have to get some game minutes in his legs so he’s not as lacking of game fitness as the entire PSG squad.
Gasp is a funny fellow, so all bets are off on how he’ll use the King of Slovenia, let alone the rest of the squad. For all we know he’ll go all out to beat the neighborhood bully from Milan and keep forcing the issue on Inter and Lazio in the race for 2nd. Regardless, this has been an exhausting month of nonstop football, but remarkably enjoyable along the way. Atalanta knocking off records like their going out of style, and a solid 3 goals against Milan would go a long way in ensuring they net 100 Serie A goals for the season, which hasn’t happened since the ’50s. As always, Forza Atalanta and let’s put some doubt into AC’s mind that keeping Pioli on a permanent basis was a good idea!
