Following a frustrating defeat to Fiorentina in their last match, Atalanta will aim to begin their European journey with a win when they face Raków Częstochowa tonight in the Europa League opener.
Atalanta will not be happy with their recent performances as they have failed to start the new season on a high. Two wins and two losses are the results of La Dea’s first four games of the campaign and they were left gutted with the 3-2 defeat against Fiorentina in their previous clash. Teun Koopmeiners opened the scoring in the 20th minute but strikes from Giacomo Bonaventura and Lucas Martinez Quarta stole the lead from Atalanta just before the break. The visitors equalised through Ademola Lookman but Christian Kouame’s goal in the 76th minute stood as the decider to settle the contest in the Viola’s favour.
Meanwhile, Raków Częstochowa dispatched Flora, Qarabag and Aris Limassol during the Champions League qualifying rounds but were edged out by Copenhagen in the playoffs. Dawid Szwarga’s side have shown competitive form in their first six games and are a team that will be looking to fight for the third spot in the group.
Here are the predicted line-ups for the match:
Atalanta (3-5-2): Musso; Djimsiti, Scalvini, Kolasinac; Hateboer, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Pasalic, Ruggeri; De Ketelaere, Muriel
Raków Częstochowa (3-4-3): V Kovacevic; Racovitan, A Kovacevic, Rundic; Tudor, Berggren, Lederman, Plavsic; Kittel, Zwolinski, Nowak
Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
