Overview
Not unfamiliar with dramatic victories in European arenas, Atalanta has created a memorable comeback in the Champions League this season after being led by 2 goals in the first leg.
In the tense second leg at Bergamo, the Italian team equalized the total score in the 60th minute, before Borussia Dortmund equalized 3-3 in a breathtaking chase. However, in the last minutes of injury time, Atalanta was awarded a penalty and Lazar Samardzic successfully converted it, bringing La Dea to the round of 16.
As the last representative of Italy left at this year's tournament, Atalanta is owning proud achievements in the continental arena in recent seasons. The 2024 Europa League champion hopes to continue to go deep in the Champions League.
However, the performance of the Bergamo team in recent knockout matches is not really convincing. Except for the 4-1 victory at home last month, Nerazzurri have lost 6 of their last 7 matches in the knockout round, and conceded an average of 2 goals per game in 9 matches of this type.
After overcoming Dortmund, the performance of Raffaele Palladino's team also began to slow down. Although once honored as the best coach of Serie A in February, Atalanta only got one point after the last 2 matches in the domestic league and drew 2-2 with Lazio in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
The defeat to Sassuolo - a team with only 10 players - makes Atalanta's hopes of entering the top 4 even slimmer. Last weekend, they continued to disappoint when they were led by Udinese twice at home.
However, Atalanta still managed to regain one point thanks to a double header from Gianluca Scamacca. The Italian striker successively took advantage of assists to narrow the score and equalize in just 3 minutes.
Returning to the Champions League, Atalanta has a fairly good record when facing German teams, only losing three out of 14 previous encounters, including a historic victory against Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. However, this encounter with Bayern Munich may be their biggest challenge.
Bayern is in extremely impressive form with 35 wins after 40 matches in all competitions this season, only receiving two defeats. In the Champions League, the six-time European champion only lost to Arsenal.
The Bavarians" also easily overcame strong opponents such as Paris Saint-Germain or Chelsea, winning 7 of the 8 group stage matches. Tradition also favors Bayern as they often play very well in the round of 16, with 10 wins in the last 12 matches in this period.
The Bavarian team currently has the highest scoring efficiency in Champions League knockout matches. With 92 goals in all competitions this season, they are only 9 goals away from the Bundesliga scoring record in a season, although there are still 9 matches ahead.
Coach Vincent Kompany's team is aiming for a brilliant season as they have just approached the Bundesliga championship, reached the DFB-Pokal semi-finals and nurtured the ambition to win the treble.
At the end of last month, Bayern also defeated Dortmund in an exciting 5-goal match. After that, Kompany rotated the squad strongly before the match against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Despite not having Harry Kane, Bayern easily beat Gladbach 4-1 thanks to goals from Luis Diaz, Jamal Musiala, Konrad Laimer and Nicolas Jackson. That victory became a perfect warm-up before the challenging away trip to Lombardy.
Expected lineup:
Carnesecchi, Kossounou, Hien, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, De Roon, Pasalic, Bernasconi, Samardzic, Zalewski, Scamacca.
Bayern Munich: Urbig, Stanisic, Upamecano, Tah, Laimer, Kimmich, Pavlovic, Olise, Musiala, Diaz, Kane.
The match between Atalanta and Bayern Munich takes place at 3:00 AM on March 11 (Vietnam time).
