With all their forces back from the international round of March, Atalanta will pick up the Serie A threads at the Maradona stadium in Naples, where the Nerazzurri are to take it to the pitch of the reigning Serie A champions.
Who made his First Team debut in the reverse game?
Born and bred in the black-and-blue Academy, 03s’ defender Giovanni Bonfanti, made his First Team and Serie A debut after replacing Kolašinac in the 76th minute of the reverse Serie A game. Prior to his first cap in the Italian top flight, Bonfanti had already made 9 Serie C appearances with Atalanta U23s. While Leonardo Mendicino, the 06s’ midfielder who debuted in the Serie A in Atalanta vs. Lazio last February, garnered his first-ever First Team attendance in the UEL Group stage road game against Rakow-Atalanta; just like his U23s teammate and 03s’ defender Tommaso Del Lungo.
When did Atalanta last face Napoli after a mid-season change on the sidelines for the Partenopei?
Napoli’s current head coach is Francesco Calzona, who replaced Walter Mazzarri last February. This means Atalanta will thus face a Napoli side with a different coach than in the reverse fixture; the last time this happened was in the 2019/2020 season, when Carlo Ancelotti was the Napoli coach in the away fixture (2-2 at the then San Paolo, goals by Freuler and Iličić), while Gennaro Gattuso was in charge of the Partenopei in the home game (2-0 at the Gewiss Stadium, goals by Pašalić and Gosens).
It’s the first game to be played on MD30.
False. Once -and only once- before Atalanta and Napoli crossed paths on MD30. 1972 was the year and Bergamo was the theatre of operations: the Nerazzurri, then ranked 11th in the standings, welcomed Napoli, sitting eighth. Off to a fledgling start, an alert Atalanta set the game on the right track since the opening stages: 8 minutes into the game, the Nerazzurri took the lead through Ottavio Bianchi’s third seasonal goal and doubled it on the 10th via Sergio Magistrelli. Again on the scoresheet in the second half, Magistrelli doubled it on 50 minutes precisely; although José Altafini pulled one back after two clock turns from the spot, the scoreboard stood still since the final whistle. Thanks to their 3-1 win, the Orobic team edged past Bologna in the standings.
Here’s Atalanta’s starting XI for the game:
Pianta; Divina, Savoia, Maggioni; Leoncini, Pirola, Sacco, Bianchi, Moro; Doldi, Magistrelli.
