The best attack in Serie A take on 7th in La Liga
Atalanta welcome Valencia to the Gerwiss Stadium for the first leg of their last 16 tie. Both sides will fancy their chances having seen the other team come out of the hat in the Champions League draw, however they must be weary of their opponent’s strengths or will come unstuck. The hosts have the most prolific attack in Serie A and come into this as narrow favourites with good reason, however the Mates have a handful of big game players that could play a huge role in the tie.
Domestic form
The Goddess’ bid to secure qualification for next year’s Champions League gained a boost on Saturday in the sides’ 2-1 victory over Roma, meaning they stretch the gap between them and Paulo Fonseca’s fifth placed men to six points. Two victories by that scoreline on the bounce have helped Gian Piero Gasperini’s men recover from dropping points against relegation battling SPAL and Genoa.
Alberto Celades’ men on the other hand have only won one of their last five encounters, including losses to Granada and Getafe since beating Barcelona 2-0 at the Mestalla. They have turned up in a big way in this competition irrelevant of form already and will be hoping to do the same on Wednesday evening.
Rodrigo Moreno
Former Bolton Wanderers frontman Rodrigo has stepped up when his team needed him in the group stage and will need to transition that into a knockout tie. The 28-year-old has only bagged twice in La Liga, but his two biggest contributions came in Europe. Scoring the only goal of the game in vital wins overChelsea and especially Ajax on matchday six, booking the Mates’ spot in the last 16 and sending the 2018/19 semi-finalists into the Europa League as a result. The two legs are another opportunity for the Spaniard to bolster his claim to go to Euro 2020 and drag an unfancied Valencia into the quarterfinals.
Josep Ilicic
The late developing Slovenian has scored 15 goals and assisted six in all competitions this campaign and has eased the workload off Luis Murieland the recently returned from injury Duvan Zapata. A beautiful hattrick in a 7-0 riot in Turin saw Ilicic capture the imagination of a global audience and at this stage of his career alongside Alejandro Gomez, this is the biggest game of their respective careers. This could give them the edge over a misfiring Valencia side.
The occasion could get the better of the Goddess, Valencia do have a lot more Champions League experience in their side. However, the Italians should have the quality to take an advantage to the Mestalla.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
They could not have dreamt of any better. A commanding performance and 4-1 win puts Atalanta in prime position to reach the last eight.