Atalanta BC and Inter Milan square off on Sunday in the final Serie A match of 2022. The teams are tied in the standings and are separated only by goal differential.
Midweek saw very different outcomes for the Lombardy rivals as Inter crushed Bologna 6-1 and La Dea limped to defeat in Lecce.
Inter took on in-form Bologna on Wednesday, still trailing in the Scudetto race after a slow start to the Serie A season and a disappointing loss in last week’s Derby d’Italia. Despite falling behind at San Siro, the Nerazzurri responded almost immediately, Edin Dzeko scoring the equaliser shortly after, and they went into halftime with a two-goal lead. By the time the game was over, the home team had a stunning five-goal advantage, with wingback Federico Dimarco scoring twice.
That relieved some pressure because coach Simone Inzaghi had been under pressure to earn three points at home after losing to Juventus, especially with a challenging away game scheduled to end the year on Sunday.
Prior to their brief trip to Bergamo, Inter had lost four of their previous six Serie A away games, which is the same number as in the previous 45. They had also allowed more than two goals per game away from Milan this season.
Such defensive shortcomings have caused Inzaghi’s team to fall 11 points behind Napoli, who currently lead the league, and they even face a tough fight to qualify for the Champions League after the World Cup.
The Nerazzurri have advanced to the round of 16, where they will play Porto in February. However, before that, they must begin their Coppa Italia defence at the beginning of 2023 and compete in the Supercoppa Italiana against Milan, in addition to playing the Rossoneri and Napoli in Serie A.
But they play Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium right away, where the teams have split their previous two league encounters.
Since November 2018, Atalanta has gone seven games without a victory over Inter in league play, but they remain committed to ending their four-year winless streak.
Gian Piero Gasperini, the manager of La Dea, will manage his 500th Serie A game on Sunday as he celebrates his 250th match in charge of the top Italian league. Gasperini will then become only the 3rd manager to do so since the beginning of the century. They lost twice in a row, to two completely distinct southern teams last week—top-ranked Napoli and newly promoted underachievers Lecce—and as a result, they fell back into the pack.
The Bergamaschi struggled against the latter midweek and, despite Duvan Zapata scoring his first Serie A goal since April, a 2-1 loss at Via del Mare dropped them to sixth place in the standings, two points behind Inter on goal differential.
In fact, Atalanta has suffered defeats in their last two matches at the Gewiss Stadium against Lazio and Napoli, and they now need to win to avoid suffering their first home league loss since 1997.
Inter Team News
Simone Inzaghi might stick with the starting lineup that defeated Bologna so easily in the middle of the week when naming his final Serie A starting lineup for 2022, though Marcelo Brozovic, who recently returned, might move into Inter’s midfield.
To attack alongside his teammate Lautaro Martinez from Argentina, Joaquin Correa will compete with Edin Dzeko. Having scored seven goals in the league against Atalanta previously, Dzeko, however, particularly enjoys playing them.
Romelu Lukaku, a member of Belgium’s World Cup roster, is once again out due to injury. Matteo Darmian is also questionable, so Denzel Dumfries is expected to keep his spot on the right flank of Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 formation.
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Andre Onana; Milan Skriniar, Acerbi, Bastoni; Denzel Dumfries, Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Edin Dzeko
Atalanta Team News
Atalanta may be without regular midfielder Marten De Roon, who suffered an injury at the end of their loss to Lecce, as well as Davide Zappacosta and Luis Muriel, who are both out. Rasmus Hojlund and Duvan Zapata will compete for the starting spot up front as a result of the latter’s absence; the latter could make his 200th Serie A start, but his last goals came in back-to-back league games about a year ago. Ademola Lookman, who has six goals for La Dea since joining from RB Leipzig in the summer, would support either option.
Atalanta BC possible starting lineup:
Musso; Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti; Hateboer, Mario Pasalic, Koopmeiners, Maehle; Ederson, Ademola Lookman; Duvan Zapata
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