Overview
Atalanta's achievements in the continental arena are in complete contrast to their disappointing form in Serie A. After defeating Marseille right at Stade Velodrome, they continued to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.
In the victory over Frankfurt, Ademola Lookman's opening shot created momentum for La Dea to explode. In just the first 5 minutes of the second half, Atalanta scored 3 goals in a row, causing Eintracht to collapse completely and not be able to recover.
The resounding victory in the Champions League debut of new coach Raffaele Palladino gave Atalanta a big advantage in the race to the knockout round. They are currently 10th in the overall Champions League rankings this season, much higher than their modest position in Serie A.
Despite a difficult start in the domestic league, the Nerazzurri still maintained an impressive position in Europe. Since the start of last season, only Inter Milan, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have kept more clean sheets than them in the Champions League.
However, returning to Serie A, things went in the opposite direction. Atalanta have only won 13 points after 12 rounds - their worst start since 2014. And their last win came in September.
Under Palladino and before that Ivan Juric, Bergamaschi had gone 8 consecutive matches without knowing the taste of victory in Serie A.
After a 1-3 defeat to defending champions Napoli last week, Palladino will aim to get points in this weekend's match. He will face his former club Fiorentina, which Palladino led to 51 games last season and won 24 of them.
While Atalanta are struggling in the midfield, Fiorentina have fallen almost to the bottom of the Serie A rankings after a 1-1 draw at home to Juventus.
After reaching the lowest score in history at this stage of the season, the Tuscan team has yet to find its first victory. The last time they won all 3 points in Serie A was in May.
In the past, the last team to avoid relegation after not winning all 12 opening rounds was Cagliari nearly 20 years ago. Therefore, the priority of new coach Paolo Vanoli is to help the team stay in the tournament.
The former Torino captain has yet to make much of an impression. Fiorentina drew 2 matches in Serie A and just suffered a defeat in the Conference League.
With only 2 shots on target at Stadio Franchi, Viola let AEK Greece beat them 1-0, thereby extending their winless streak to seven. This result caused the team that had reached the European Cup final twice to fall to 17th place.
Things are even more worrying as Fiorentina are the team that has conceded the most goals from set pieces in Serie A this season (10 goals). Their attack is also facing serious problems, as famous strikers like Moise Kean or Edin Dzeko are not in good form.
Personnel situation
Although Atalanta are facing a tight schedule, Raffaele Palladino is likely to make major adjustments to the Coppa Italia match against Genoa next week.
Atalanta are currently lacking Giorgio Scalvini - who is about to complete his recovery from a knee injury - and Mitchel Bakker, a player who has been absent for a long time.
While Atalanta's attack is gradually regaining confidence, Fiorentina are struggling to find a stable source of goals. Moise Kean has only scored 2 goals this season, despite having scored 25 goals in Serie A in the 2024-2025 season.
Edin Dzeko, who has conceded nine goals for Atalanta in Serie A confrontations, has yet to score in the competition since moving to Florence in the summer.
Expected lineup:
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Djimsiti, Hien, Kossounou, Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Zalewski, De Ketelaere, Lookman, Scamacca.
Fiorentina: De Gea, Pongracic, Mari, Ranieri, Fortini, Fagioli, Mandragora, Sohm, Parisi, Gudmundsson, Kean.
The match between Atalanta and Fiorentina takes place at 0:00 am on December 1 (Vietnam time).
