The first black and white after the hurricane-judgment of the Federal Court on the capital gains case and -15 in the standings. Waiting for the postponements, on Sunday of 19th and last day out from the A league ends with the big luxury match at the Allianz Stadium in Turin between the Juventus of Maximilian Allegri and theAtalanta of the former Gian Piero Gasperiniin scena at 20.45: both teams are coming through the round in the Coppa Italia, with qualification for the quarter-finals, which will be against Lazio and Inter respectively. In the championship, however, the situation is quite different: the bianconeri have suffered the heavy penalty of 15 points for the capital gains case, they come from the bitter defeat in Naples, after 8 victories in a row, and are tenth at 22 points, at a stellar distance from the Champions area , while the nerazzurri are chasing third-placed Inter by 3 lengths, they have been in the positive series for two days and are dreaming of a hookup. A real fundamental challenge for the continuation of the season.
STATS & BACKGROUND – Seven of the last 11 matches between Juventus and Atalanta in Serie A ended in a draw (two victories on each side complete the set), after the previous 13 matches had all seen a black and white victory. Since the beginning of 2017, no top-flight match has ended in a draw more than once (7 including for Fiorentina v Genoa and Cagliari v Sassuolo). Juventus have lost only one of their last 25 home games in the league against Atalanta (W18, D6), however the most recent one, 0-1 on 27 November 2021 (goal by Duvan Zapata); moreover, the last Juventus success at the Stadium against this opponent in Serie A dates back to 14 March 2018, 2-0, again with Massimiliano Allegri on the bench. Atalanta are unbeaten in five matches against Juventus in Serie A (W2, D3), only once in their entire history have they managed to play six matches in a row against this opponent without losing: between 1963 and 1966. Juventus have won all of their last five home league games without conceding a goal: in their entire history in Serie A they have only done better on five occasions, the most recent being between January and May 2016 (11). Atalanta is the team that has collected the fewest points considering the challenges between the teams currently in the top seven positions in the standings, just four – Juventus instead have obtained seven, all in home games. Thanks to the 37 points obtained so far, with a success Juventus can reach the 40-point threshold at the end of a first leg for the 12th time since Serie A returned to 20 teams in 2004/05 – in the period it is the formation that has succeeded several times (following Inter, which is currently 9 and like the black and whites currently has 37 points in the standings). Atalanta are one of the three teams that have obtained the most points in the 2023 calendar year (seven, like Inter and Roma) and have scored at least five more goals than any other team in the period (12). Federico Chiesa, who returned to Serie A on the last matchday 369 days after the previous one, has scored in two of his last three home games against Atalanta in the league (on 8 February 2020 with Fiorentina and on 16 December 2020 with Juventus). Overall, the Bergamo side is one of the four opponents currently in Serie A against which the Juventus winger has scored at least three goals, along with Milan (3), Sampdoria (4) and Bologna (6). The three youngest players with more than 10 appearances in this Serie A are Giorgio Scalvini, Fabio Miretti and Rasmus Højlund; in general, the Juventus midfielder has started 12 games in the top division, in the era of three points for a win only Paul Pogba (13) and Alessio Tacchinardi (14) have collected more in black and white before turning 20. Ademola Lookman, with nine goals this season, could become the fourth player in his Serie A debut season to score double figures in his first 19 league games for Atalanta, after Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (in 1949 /50), Karl Aage Hansen (in 1949/50) and Poul Rasmussen (in 1952/53).
THE OFFICIAL FORMATIONS:
Juve (3-5-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro; McKennie, Locatelli, Fagioli, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Maria, Milik.
Atalanta (3-4-1-2): Musso; Toloi, Palomino, Scalvini; Hateboer, De Roon, Ederson; Boga; Lookman, Hojlund
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