Atalanta have Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic on the bench against Real Madrid, but this is not an unusual move, nor a defensive one.
The Champions League Round of 16 kicks off at 20.00 GMT, after the first leg ended 1-0 for the Spaniards.
You can check the line-ups and Liveblog HERE.
Gian Piero Gasperini had been expected to start the Colombian duo of Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata, with Mario Pasalic or Josip Ilicic in support.
Atalanta have Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic on the bench against Real Madrid, but this is not an unusual move, nor a defensive one.
The Champions League Round of 16 kicks off at 20.00 GMT, after the first leg ended 1-0 for the Spaniards.
You can check the line-ups and Liveblog HERE.
Gian Piero Gasperini had been expected to start the Colombian duo of Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata, with Mario Pasalic or Josip Ilicic in support.
Instead, Muriel is the lone striker with Ruslan Malinovskyi and Pasalic backing him up, plus Matteo Pessina in a deeper role in place of suspended Remo Freuler.
Some consider this a defensive move, but it is not at all unusual for Gasperini, who already took this approach when winning his last five Champions League away fixtures.
La Dea won 2-0 at Anfield against Liverpool by using Papu Gomez as a False 9, leaving out both Muriel and Duvan Zapata.
In the victory away to Ajax, Duvan Zapata started and Muriel replaced him off the bench.
It has been seen recently that using the Colombian duo together has not led to good results against the bigger clubs, for example a recent 1-0 defeat to Inter.
Using mobile and versatile players such as Malinovskyi, Pessina and Pasalic – along with the ever-present Robin Gosens – allows Atalanta to become more unpredictable in attack.
They provide few reference points, can push up with runs from midfield and stretch the opposition defence to create the spaces.
Duvan Zapata also provides an option to come off the bench and shake things up against tired legs, a role that Muriel had for months before finding an extraordinary run of form.
Ilicic was so poor off the bench in the first leg that he was hauled off again 30 minutes later, because the Slovenian is undoubtedly a talent, but also incredibly temperamental.