Football Italia
·10. Dezember 2024
Football Italia
·10. Dezember 2024
Atalanta seek revenge on Real Madrid for the UEFA Super Cup, looking to Charles De Ketelaere and Ademola Lookman against Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.
It kicks off at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo at 20.00 GMT.
These sides met in August for the UEFA Super Cup and it ended 2-0 for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, but a great deal has changed since that day.
La Dea have won their last nine in Serie A and went top of the table this weekend, as well as being unbeaten in the Champions League and conceding only one goal.
On the other side, Real Madrid dealt with reports Ancelotti could be fired, although he is now second in LaLiga with a game in hand.
The biggest problem has been in the Champions League, losing three of their five matches including a 3-1 home defeat to Milan and 2-0 at Liverpool.
It leaves them in 24th place and potentially heading for the exit in January without even making the play-offs.
Atalanta are missing Juan Cuadrado and Giorgio Scalvini, while Davide Zappacosta is not at 100 per cent either.
De Ketelaere is on sparkling form and chosen as centre-forward again with Lookman and Mario Pasalic in support, leaving Serie A Capocannoniere Mateo Retegui initially on the bench.
Real Madrid have a lot of injury problems, missing Ferland Mendy, Eduardo Camavinga, David Alaba, Daniel Carvajal and Eder Militao.
There are quite a few surprises in the starting XI, as Aurelien Tchouameni is turned into a makeshift central defender and Dani Ceballos gets a rare start in midfield.
Former Milan man Brahim Diaz is also used in what appears to be a 4-2-3-1 formation along with Bellingham, Vinicius and centre-forward Mbappé.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi; Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac; Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Pasalic; De Ketelaere, Lookman
Atalanta bench: Rui Patricio, Rossi, Toloi, Kossounou, Godfrey, Zaniolo, Samardzic, Palestra, Retegui, Brescianini, Zappacosta
Real Madrid: Courtois; Lucas Vazquez, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Fran Garcia; Valverde, Ceballos; Brahim Diaz, Bellingham, Vinicius Jr; Mbappé
Real Madrid bench: Lunin, Sergio Mestre, Modric, Rodygo, Arda Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Youssef, Raul Asencio, Chema
Ref: Marciniak (POL)