Two Serie A heavyweights Atalanta and AC Milan lock horns at the Gewiss Stadium on December 12. While coach Gian Pero Gasperini has had one of his best starts to the season, it has been a rollercoaster for coach Paulo Fonseca and his Milan lads. Nine points separate 7th-place AC Milan from 1st-place Atalanta, but form tends to be thrown out of the window in games like these.

Atalanta have had a dream start to the campaign, with nine wins and one draw from their first 13 games of the season. For most of their matches, they have looked celestial and totally unplayable at times.

La Dea had a great start to the Serie A campaign, demolishing Lecce 4-0 at the Stadio Via del Mare. Braces from Marco Brescianini and Mario Retegui sealed the win for Atalanta.

However, Atalanta could not continue with their momentum, as they went on to suffer back-to-back losses at Torino and league champions Inter Milan. Nonetheless, they picked up the pace again in mid-September, defeating Fiorentina at the Gewiss Stadium. That win coincided with the return of Ademola Lookman to the team after he almost fell out with the club due to a disappointing transfer window.

Over the years, Atalanta have been a yoyo team, and it seemed like they were going to continue with that this season. Because just after their win over Fiorentina, they lost at home to newly-promoted Como. La Dea conceded first in that game, but they eventually lost the game 3-2.

After that disappointing loss, Atalanta went to Stadio Renato Dall’Ara to pick a hard-fought point against Bologna. That result in late September was the turning point in their season, as Atalanta have not lost any game since then.

They steamrolled their next opponents Genoa, picking up a 5-1 win. Retegui, who has been a revelation since joining the club in the summer registered a hat-trick. Then Marten De Roon and Ederson added one each to complete the five goals.  After that, they went to Stadio Pierluigi Penzo to defeat Serie A returnees Venezia.

In the next game against Hellas Verona at the Gewiss Stadium, Atalanta were just impeccable. They demolished their visitors 6-1. Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman was the standout performer, producing two goals and two assists to help his side. Retegui also got a brace in the game, while De Roon and Charles De Ketelaere scored the other two goals. When Monza visited Bergamo, theirs was a much better fate, but they still succumbed to a 2-0 defeat. 

Atalanta’s biggest result this season came against Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. They claimed a handsome 3-0 win over the former Serie A kings. Lookman, who has had his career-best year, produced a world class performance, scoring two beautiful goals before Retegui put the final nail in the coffin.

After that result, Atalanta went on to claim back-to-back wins against Parma and Udinese.

Meanwhile, AC Milan’s story this season has been slightly different. Recall that Fonseca took over from former coach Stefano Pioli last summer. The club felt that they deserve more with the quality they possess, but that decision has not produced fruits.

The Rossoneri started the campaign with a 2-2 draw against Torino at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. Then, they went to Parma and lost 2-1. 

AC Milan’s first win of the campaign came in their fourth game against Venezia. Goals from Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Youssouf Fofana, and Theo Hernandez sealed the win for the former Serie A champions. 

After that, they picked up an impressive win against defending champions and Milan rivals Inter Milan. A late strike from Matteo Gabbia sealed the 2-1 win for the Rossoneri. That win catalyzed them to a 3-0 win over Lecce, but they failed to sustain that momentum, as they lost 2-1 to Fiorentina in their next game.

AC Milan returned to winning ways with a hard-fought win over Udinese. They had to play with a man deficit for 61 minutes after Tijjani Reijnders got sent off in the 29th minute.

Since that game, AC Milan have suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Napoli, beaten Monza 1-0 away, and played out back-to-back draws against Cagliari and Juventus.

Match tickets

This match at Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo kicks off on Friday 6th December 2024, at 19:45 GMT. 

The 24,950-capacity stadium is the place for this clash between two heavyweights in the division.

Getting Atalanta v AC Milan tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels. 

Team news

Line-ups

Atalanta have a pretty healthy squad going into the fixture. Long-term absentee Gianluca Scamacca is still out of action after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament tear at the start of the season. Davide Zappacosta is also expected to miss the game because of a calf injury. Ben Godfrey and Sead Kolasinac are both injured, but they should be back.in time for the game.

Atalanta XI: Marco Carnesecchi; Odilon Kossounou, Isak Hien, Rafael Toloi; Matteo Ruggeri, Ederson, Marten De Roon, Raoul Bellanova; Mario Pasalic, Ademola Lookman, Mateo Retegui.

Meanwhile, AC Milan will be with an almost full squad from the game. However, Ismael Bennacer is suffering from a calf injury and will return in the second half of the season. Alessandro Florenzi is also recovering from an ACL injury and will likely miss the game.

AC Milan XI: Mike Maignan; Emerson Royal, Malick Thiaw, Matteo Gabbia, Theo Hernandez; Youssouf Fofana, Tijjani Reijnders; Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao, Alvaro Morata

Prediction

The game is expected to be end-to-end, as both teams are notorious for leaving little spaces for opponents to exploit. Indeed, both teams are blessed with attacking talents, as Retegui and Lookman are very dangerous in the final third. Leao can also single handedly take down any defense on his day. For the fans, getting your Atalanta tickets early is important.

Atalanta have won two of their last five meetings, AC Milan have won one, while the other two have ended in draws. There should also be goals in the fixture, as there have been at least two goals in their last 16 meetings.

In these kinds of fixtures, form does not really matter. So even though Atalanta are nine points ahead of AC Milan in the league, the result could swing either way.

Atalanta 2-2 Milan