Lisbon will host the one-legged affair between Atalanta and Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday 12th August. This tactical analysis will take a look at how the two teams will face up against each other.
Atalanta, led by Gian Piero Gasperini, recently finished the Serie A season where they finished third in the league and scored 98 goals in the process. They finished the season in a 2-0 loss against Inter Milan where they certainly did not look up the test as they missed out a 2nd place standing in the league table. However, Josip Iličić was missing in this match and it was clear to see Gasperini’s side suffered as a result creatively. Gasperini’s tactics across the season, however, have been unstoppable offensively and they do not concede all too many shots per game, but the ones they do are of high quality. We will discover in this analysis if this will affect the upcoming match in any way.
Paris Saint-Germain, managed by Thomas Tuchel, have been dominant in recent friendly matches, although they are only friendlies. The Ligue 1 season was cut short, and it will be interesting to see if it has a significant impact on their performance. Unfortunately, in their recently friendly affairs, they lost Kylian Mbappé to an ankle injury, and adding insult to injury, Marco Verratti suffered a calf injury in training, and it seems they will miss his services in this tie as well. This analysis will take a deeper dive into how these injuries will affect PSG in this game.
Predicted Lineups
Atalanta (3-4-1-2): Marco Sportiello: Rafael Tolói, Mattia Caldara, Berat Djimsiti: Timothy Castagne, Marten de Roon, Remo Freuler, Robin Gosens: Papu Gómez: Duván Zapata, Mario Pašalić.
Although they rolled out in a 3-4-3 formation in their last match against Inter Milan, they typically prefer to play 3-4-1-2, as to play Gómez in the #10 role, where he has been so crucial to them this term. Gollini suffering a knee ligament tear in their last game against Inter makes for three first-team absentees in this upcoming match-up, adding to José Luis Palomino and Josip Iličić.
