Date: September 30, 2020
Time: 14:45 EST
COVID is still rearing its ugly head around soccer and Serie A in general. Genoa was blasted with a huge wave of COVID cases this week, and much less momentous backlash from last season’s congested European schedule already has forced midweek fixtures in Italy. And of course Atalanta is graced with the task of facing fellow Champion’s League participant and potential Scudetto challenger Lazio. Both clubs got off to a hot start on Saturday with convincing victories over Torino and Cagliari, and will be rearing to go to get a head start in the table so early in the season.
The Stade Olimpico wasn’t friendly to Atalanta last time they faced Lazio in the capital. Comfortably ahead 3-0 going into the final 25 minutes of the match, perhaps some questionable penalty calls and Lazio capitalizing on their chances saw La Dea’s lead completely vanish; thus, forcing them to settle for a unsatisfying 3-3 draw. This launched Lazio’s dominance over the next several months, making them potential Scudetto contenders. But as football goes, everyone knows what the football gods giveth, they can just as easily taketh away, and Atalanta’s retaliation post COVID destroyed any chance the Laziali may have had at finishing atop the table.
Going into this match, both teams will have revenge on their mind. Squandered leads tend to linger longer than they should, especially against clubs vying for Champion’s League positions. An incredibly tough match to predict, both clubs are nearly identical to last year and don’t have much separating them in terms of skill and talent. To me, the difference comes down to Atalanta’s defense. If they don’t succumb to moments of braindeadness and don’t let Luis Alberto do his best version of Papu Gomez, I give them the advantage. Palomino played very well coming off the bench last match, and did an excellent job containing an on-fire Belotti. With Palomino deserving another start and the return of Djimsiti to bolster the defensive back three, I feel good about La Dea’s defense doing enough to keep themselves in the match. However, Gasperini could also opt to go forth with new signing Cristian Romero (who was suspended for last game), and could make the match much more interesting. I’m incredibly keen to see how Romero handles Gasperini’s heavy press, but maybe against the boys from Cagliari. Against Lazio I feel much safer going with a tried and true defense.
It’s nice to be able to ease into a Serie A season, get your feet wet before the big games start appearing on the schedule. Unfortunately we don’t have that luxury this time around. Lazio early on is not what I would have asked for, but can still be a good barometer to how we stack up against the top 4-6 in the week. If the performance in Turin is any indicator of how Atalanta will look this season, we have green pastures ahead of us, and should definitely have no fear going into this match. As always, Forza La Dea!
