On the field at 15 Verona-Atalanta.
A two days full of commitments awaits Atalanta, in search of redemption after the elimination from the Champions League. In Verona there will be the first challenge of the closing triptych of the first round, with Rome and Genoa in the queue, while on Monday the draw for the playoffs to access the second round of the Europa League is scheduled in Nyon. Before reconnecting the thread with the younger sister of the continental cups, a stage of prestige immediately conquered six seasons ago by Gian Piero Gasperini, the Bergamo team tries to find itself in the championship three days after the unfortunate recovery with Villarreal costing the exit from the Champions League. The negative protagonists of the evening go behind the blackboard, while Scalvini descends into the Spring. The pause for reflection, disguised as a turnover,it concerns Demiral and Pessina (formerly on duty with Sutalo and Tameze on the other side), replaced respectively by Palomino as a defensive pivot between Toloi and a Djimsiti at full time and by Pasalic behind the attack line. In attack Zappacosta and Muriel seem to have won the ballot with Hateboer on the right and with Ilicic as Zapata's shoulder, as Malinovskyi is disqualified. Furthermore, to preserve the distrusted Freuler in sight of the Giallorossi, at risk like the Turkish international, the use of Koopmeiners in the median with De Roon is not unlikely. Traction prior to the Colombian and backbone to the Dutch, therefore, even if the pre-tactic ritual of silence on the eve, the ninth without the press for the Nerazzurri coach over 17 rounds, only allows hypotheses that are the children of what we have been able to see in the field with three points up for grabs.The environment has absorbed the blow of the miss 'there is no two without three' in the big-eared trophy, especially as on the Instagram profiles of the club and the players there is a chorus of "We'll be back", we will return to Champions. An optimism dictated by the last five victories in a row by beating away Juventus and Napoli (22 points out of 24 available and 34 total) for a fourth place close to the top with the fifth at a safe distance. As promised after the competition on 9 December by captain Rafael Toloi, it will be a fight as long as there is something on three fronts, including the Italian Cup which will begin with the new year, clogging the calendar like the European preliminaries. They will be respectively four and eight games to reach the final in Rome on 11 May and in Seville a week later.Waiting to know who to face on 17 (in Bergamo) and 24 February between Rangers, Real Sociedad, Olympiakos, Braga, Betis and Dinamo Zagreb, or the first historical opponent of the Champions League, there is a home front in which to avoid giving up ground.
Probable formations of Verona-Atalanta
Verona (3-4-2-1): 96 Montipò, 17 Ceccherini, 23 Magnani, 16 Casale, 5 Faraoni, 61 Tameze, 4 Veloso, 8 Lazovic, 7 Barak, 10 Caprari, 99 Simeone (1 Pandur, 22 Berardi, 15 Cetin, 31 Sutalo, 24 Bessa, 20 Ruegg, 14 Ilic, 18 Cancellieri, 32 Ragusa, 11 Lasagna).
All: Tudor Disqualified: none Wary: Unavailable Pharaohs: Fabrotta, Kalinic, Gunter and Dawidowicz
Atalanta (3-4-1-2): 1 Musso;
2 Toloi, 6 Palomino, 19 Djimsiti;
77 Zappacosta, 15 De Roon, 7 Koopmeiners, 3 Maehle;
88 Pasalic;
91 Zapata, 9 Muriel.
(31 Rossi, 57 Sportiello, 28 Demiral, 42 Scalvini, 66 Lovato, 13 Pezzella, 33 Hateboer, 11 Freuler, 32 Pessina, 59 Miranchuk, 72 Ilicic, 99 Piccoli).
Coach: Gasperini.
Disqualified: Malinovskyi.
Beware: Demiral, Freuler.
Unavailable: Gosens.
Referee: Sacchi di Macerata Snai odds: 3.65;
3.90;
1.90.