Atalanta CEO Luca Percassi admits their season was ‘unexpectedly more complicated’ and forced them to make numerous changes, but they have faith in Lazar Samardzic.
The Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donetsk kicks off on neutral turf at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen at 17.45 UK time (16.45 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game, RB Leipzig-Juventus and Liverpool-Bologna on the Liveblog.
There are injury problems for Atalanta, as Matteo Ruggeri, Marco Brescianini and Isak Hien joined long-term absentees Rafael Toloi, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca on the treatment table.
This season has also seen a change of approach to investment, bringing in Lazar Samardzic, Mateo Retegui, Nicolò Zaniolo and Juan Cuadrado.
“Atalanta have to be very vigilant on the transfer market. The idea of the whole club was to confirm the majority of the squad that took Atalanta to the extraordinary result of winning the Europa League, qualifying for the Champions League and reaching the Coppa Italia Final, but then the summer was unexpectedly more complicated,” Percassi told Sky Sport Italia.
“Some situations emerged, including the serious injury to Scamacca that we had to react to. The club decided to make some important investments, above all on young players, plus opportunities like Zaniolo and Cuadrado who can complete the squad.
“As always, we know that all players who come to Atalanta can only improve with hard work, the great discipline that is drilled into them here and the environment that gives patience for players to grow and reach their full potential.”
Atalanta forced to rebuild after Europa League triumph
Samardzic had been linked with numerous clubs, including a deal with Inter that fell apart after a medical and being very close to Napoli, before he came to Atalanta.
“We have faith in him, we know sometimes players take time to settle into our way of doing things. Samardzic is very young, we hope he can become more consistent and follow in the footsteps of some other great players who came through here.”
Because of all those changes to Gian Piero Gasperini’s squad quite late in the summer, losing the likes of Teun Koopmeiners and just about hanging on to Ademola Lookman, their results have been very inconsistent so far this season.
“Atalanta built over the years, day by day, game by game, and we must be aware that this is our dimension. Only via work can we improve, I am convinced it will be a very difficult match, especially after we saw Shakhtar Donetsk cause huge problems for Bologna, so incidents can make the difference.”
La Dea first faced Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in 2019, when they were still able to play on Ukrainian soil in Kharkiv, so was that Atalanta team stronger than the group that won the Europa League?
“They are both great teams that wrote the history books of this club. Sometimes we’d love for time to stand still and keep enjoying certain things, but in sport above all you need to regenerate and move forward,” concluded Percassi.
“The club and city are not accustomed to things like winning the Europa League, so we have had to readjust to that too. We must be very happy to enjoy these experiences that help us to grow and improve.”