After beating Bayer Leverkusen in the Round of 16, Atalanta will look to knock another German side out of Europe when they square off against Leipzig in the last eight of the Europa League. The Bergamo based outfit are one of two Italian sides left in continental competition currently- Roma, who will play Bodo in the ECL, are the other.
La Dea beat Leverkusen 3-2 at home in the first leg of that Ro16 knockout tie, and followed it up with a 1-0 win at the Bay Arena, with Jeremie Boga scoring a stoppage time winner to send the Italians through 4-2 on aggregate. An encore of that evening will do very nicely for Gian Piero Gasperini’s charges in Leipzig, especially with the second leg to be played back in home comfort in Bergamo and away goals no longer counting in this competition.
Atalanta dropped into the EL after finishing third in a group that also included Man Utd, Villarreal and Young Boys. They had their chances to beat United both home and away- squandering a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford and then conceding a late equaliser to Ronaldo in Bergamo.
Playoff Round
Atalanta 2-1 Olympiakos (Djimsiti*2)
Olympiakos 0-3 Atalanta (Maehle, Malinovskyi*2)
Ro16
Atalanta 3-2 Leverkusen (Malinovskyi*2, Muriel)
Leverkusen 0-1 Atalanta (Boga)
Atalanta have travelled well in Serie A this season- their record on the road is almost as good as that of leaders Milan. However Leipzig are tough to beat at home as well, and several well known Italian sportsbooks have RB as favourites for this clash, not surprising given the latter’s recent form- the only team to have beaten them in this calendar year are Bayern, and they come into this game on the back of an impressive 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund.
RB record this year so far
Atalanta were beaten 3-1 by Napoli over the weekend. Goals from Insigne and Politano put the visitors 2-0 up at the interval and although Marten de Roon pulled one back for Atalanta, Eljif Elmas’ strike on the hour mark confirmed victory for the Partenopei.
There is a big incentive for the winners of this tie- they will avoid Barcelona in the semifinals, and will play the victor of the Braga-Rangers game. It thus represents a great opportunity for either side to make it to a major European final. Barca were comfortable victors over Galatasaray and will be up against Eintracht Frankfurt in the last eight.
Atalanta will also be hoping that Leipzig’s break from European football (they were given a bye in their previous tie against Spartak) works in their favour, and their battle hardened players can do the job in Germany.
The referee for this game is Michael Oliver. Somewhat interestingly, no home team has won in European club games refereed by him this season so far (see below), which, one has to say, augurs well for Atalanta.
Oliver in Europe
Barcelona 0-3 Bayern
Lille 0-0 Sevilla
Dortmund 1-3 Ajax
RB Salzburg 1-1 Bayern
Frankfurt 1-1 Betis
Mura 1-3 Sturm Graz
Cluj 1-2 Red Star
Sparta Prague 0-2 Monaco