SPAL takes on Atalanta on 8/25/19 at the Stadio Paolo Mazza in Ferrara FE, Italy.
SPAL stands for Societa Polisportiva Ars et Labor, a football club founded in 1907. Overall, SPAL has played in 24 top-tier and 25 second-tier seasons. Their best finish was during the 1959/60 Serie A season where they finished 5th in the final table. SPAL also reached the final of the 1961/62 Coppa Italia tournament. Last season, they played their third straight term in the top flight and they finished in 13th place. SPAL is the soccer betting underdogs against Atalanta.
These are the players on SPAL’s roster as of August 13, 2019:
1 GK Alfred Gomis, 3 DF Igor, 4 DF Thiago Cionek, 6 MF Mirko Valdifiori, 7 MF Simone Missiroli, 8 MF Mattia Valoti, 9 FW Gabriele Mancini, 10 FW Sergio Floccari (captain), 11 MF Alessandro Murgia, 15 MF Sauli Vaisanen, 19 MF Jasmin Kurtic, 21 MF Gabriel Strefezza, 22 GK Demba Thiam, 23 DF Francesco Vicari, 24 DF Lorenzo Dickmann, 27 DF Felipe, 31 MF Federico Di Francesco (on loan from Sassuolo), 37 FW Andrea Petagna, 43 FW Alberto Paloschi 65 GK Marco Meneghetti, 66 DF Bartosz Salamon, 77 MF Marco D’Alessandro (on loan from Atalanta, 92 MF Federico Viviani, 93 MF Mohamed Fares, 95 FW Marko Jankovic, 98 MF Eklu Shaka Mawuli, 99 GK Etrit Berisha (on loan from Atalanta)
Atlanta was founded in 1907 by some Swiss students and they are nicknamed the Nerazzurri or Orobici. They are one of the most consistent Italian Clubs with one one tenure in the Serie C, 28 times in Serie B and 58 season in Serie A. The club were the 1963 Coppa Italia winners and reached the Cup Winners Cup semifinals in 1988 when it was competing under Serie B. The team gained promotion to Serie A in 2010/11 and have stayed there ever since. They finished third in the Serie A last season to earn their first-ever participation in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage.
These are the names on Atalanta’s roster as of July 29, 2019:
2 DF Rafael Toloi, 5 DF Andrea Masiello, 6 DF Jose Luis Palomino, 7 MF Arkadiusz Reca, 8 DF Robin Gosens, 8 FW Luis Muriel, 10 FW Papu Gomez (captain), 11 MF Marten de Roon, 17 FW Roberto Piccoli, 18 MF Ruslan Malinovskyi, 19 DF Berat Djimsiti, 21 DF Timothy Castagne, 22 MF Matteo Pessina, 30 DF Marco Varnier, 31 GK Francesco Rossi, 33 DF Hans Hateboer, 37 DF Martin Skrtel, 41 DF Roger Ibanez, 72 FW Josip Illicic, 88 MF Mario Pasalic (on loan from Chelsea), 91 FW Duvan Zapanta (on loan from Sampdoria) 95 GK Pierluigi Gollini, 99 FW Musa Barrow
SPAL is 5-1-0 in their last six matches played while Atalanta is 3-0-3 in their last six games played. These teams have played four times and each team has one victory while the other two games ended in a draw. Atalanta defeated SPAL 2-1 in their last meeting held last February 10, 2019.
Atalanta was the surprise team of the 2018/19 Serie A season. They started their season slow but picked it up after Match Day 9 and finished the season with European qualification. Papu Gomez and Duvan Zapanta played incredible while coach Gasperini did wonders with his team despite what their summer budget suggested.
Atalanta probably had the best attacking game in Italy last season and the team is set up for the future with their current roster. Depth may be an issue for their backline and the lack of skill on defense could be exposed. Overall though, Gasperini’s tactical brilliance may be able to overcome this and keep the team on top of the table. Against SPAL, they shouldn’t have much of a problem given their structure and coaching. Prediction: Atalanta
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