The lowdown on Inter v Atalanta in the Supercoppa Italiana 🇮🇹

OneFootball

·2 January 2025

The lowdown on Inter v Atalanta in the Supercoppa Italiana 🇮🇹

The 2024/25 Supercoppa Italiana begins tomorrow, with Serie A champions Inter taking on Europa League winners Atalanta in Riyadh.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of this mouthwatering encounter.

OneFootball Videos

Where and when is the game?

Inter2

Atalanta0

02:59

The first semi-final of the Supercoppa Italiana 2024/25 takes place on Thursday January 2, 2025.

The game kicks off at 22:00 local time (20:00 CET) and will be held at the newly-constructed Kingdom Arena, as will the other semi-final and the final.

The 30,000 capacity venue in Riyadh opened in October 2023 and is also the home of Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal and holds two Guinness World Records: the largest covered football stadium in the world and the highest capacity for an indoor covered stadium.

How did the two teams qualify?

📸 Marco Luzzani - 2024 Getty Images

In 2023, the Supercoppa Italiana moved away from the traditional format pitting the Scudetto winner against the Coppa Italia winner, pivoting to a four-team format.

That sees the top two in Serie A take on the Coppa Italia finalists, which interestingly is the top four from Serie A last season.

Inter qualified by virtue of winning the league championship, while Atalanta were beaten in the Coppa Italia final.

One player to watch from each team

Federico Dimarco (Inter)

📸 PIERO CRUCIATTI - AFP or licensors

Others in the side may grab more of the plaudits but the flying wing-back is arguably the man who makes the Nerazzurri tick.

He is vital to Simone Inzaghi’s system, both defensively and going forward, cementing his status as one of the best attacking players in the league, contributing three goals and three assists so far this season in Serie A.

Dimarco is a constant source of production for Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram in the penalty area.

Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta)

📸 MARCO BERTORELLO - AFP or licensors

Competition is fierce for being the standout man of the Atalanta attack, given the performances of recently-crowned African Player of the Year Ademola Lookman and the in-form Mateo Retegui.

But the Belgian has justified La Dea’s gamble to pay Milan his big price tag and paid them back with some sensational displays this season both at home and in Europe.

The playmaker has found a new lease of life in Bergamo and is living up to all of the early hype that surrounded him when he first arrived in Italy.

Who are the coaches?

Simone Inzaghi (Inter)

📸 Marco Luzzani - 2024 Getty Images

After last season’s Scudetto win, Inzaghi has now won it all domestically at San Siro since arriving from Lazio in 2021, including this tournament on three occasions.

In fact, he has won the Supercoppa in every season with the Nerazzurri and in addition to his victories with Lazio, is now aiming for glory for the sixth time in the dugout.

He even came heartbreakingly close to leading them to the Champions League too but was narrowly beaten by Manchester City in 2023.

Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)

📸 Marco Luzzani - 2024 Getty Images

Once of Inter for a brief but unsuccessful spell, Gasperini has since firmly established himself as the greatest coach in Atalanta history.

With his patented 3-4-3 system, he has captured the imagination of neutrals across the world with his exciting brand of attacking football which has brought so much joy and success to Bergamo.

In addition to leading the Orobici, who often yo-yo'd between the top two divisions before his arrival, to the latter stages of the Champions League, his crowning glory came in Dublin in May when he masterminded a thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen to deliver Europa League glory.

Memorable meeting

📸 GABRIEL BOUYS

Both league match-ups in the 2022/23 season ended in dramatic 3-2 wins for Inter, which proved pivotal in helping them beat their Lombardy rivals to a top four berth.