A late season rally across three fronts continued on Monday night for Atalanta as they won 2-1 at Salernitana, meaning they are now on the verge of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League both via a top-five Serie A finish and potentially through winning the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League. They hold the early upper hand in this semi-final tie with Marseille after a 1-1 stalemate in France last week, particularly as their opponents have been horrendously poor travellers both domestically and abroad across recent months.
Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini has urged Atalanta fans to renew their passports for May’s Europa League final in Dublin, stating that whilst they “need to be wary”, after failing to win three of their last six home games in all competitions (W3, D1, L2), he’s confident they’re in great shape ahead of three decisive fixtures in seven days. The odds suggest that Marseille should prove to be a much easier assignment at home than Liverpool were in the quarter-finals (L 1-0), and Atalanta’s home record as a pre-match favourite across all tournaments this campaign (W16, D3, L2) should offer much encouragement.
Marseille’s chances of qualifying for Europe next season through Ligue 1 are fading, so they could be forgiven for throwing everything they have left at this particular competition. Their Ligue 1 trip to Reims was postponed to give head coach Jean-Louis Gasset a week to prepare for this away leg, and the 70-year-old assured the media last week that the team “knows what to do” to go one better.
They’ve made it to the semi-final stage almost entirely on the back of home victories, so last week’s 1-1 draw has left them in a difficult position. Marseille’s place in the final will depend on them securing just their fifth away win in all competitions this season (W4, D7, L13), which appears even less likely after losing ten of the 13 away games (W1, D2, L10) in which they were graded as the underdogs.
Players to watch: Atalanta’s Gianluca Scamacca is in incredible goalscoring form of late after netting in eight of his last ten competitive appearances, including their first goal against both Salernitana and Marseille. For the opposition, all but one of defender Jonathan Clauss’ last nine competitive goals came on the road, including two in this UEL edition.
Hot stat: Nine of Marseille’s 13 UEL games this season (69%) saw both teams score.
