2026–2027 Preseason Friendlies: Atalanta vs. Arezzo, Probable Lineups

Following last week’s 2-1 victory in a friendly against the Under-23 team, Atalanta returns to the field on Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Zingonia Training Center, behind closed doors, to face Arezzo, a team newly promoted to Serie B. It will be an opportunity for both the Nerazzurri’s new head coach, Maurizio Sarri, and the Amaranto’s head coach, Cristian Bucchi, to fine-tune their tactics ahead of the upcoming season.

Atalanta is coming off a season of two halves: the start of the season was extremely difficult under Ivan Juric, but things improved with the coaching change and the arrival of Raffaele Palladino: the efforts of the Campania-born coach allowed Atalanta to remain in contention for European competition this year as well (they will play in the Conference League qualifying round), but the club and coach parted ways at the end of the season due to irreconcilable differences.

Arezzo, following the spectacular run that brought the club back to the second division for the first time since 2006–2007 (curiously, Sarri spent 18 games on the Tuscan side’s bench that season), kicked off the new season on Wednesday with a convincing 3-1 friendly win over Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli (goals by Cerri, Gilli, and Eklu), before drawing 1-1 with Folgore Caratese on Saturday (Amaranto goal by Djamanca).

Probable Lineups

ATALANTA (4-3-3): Carnesecchi; Bellanova, Obric, Scalvini, Bernasconi; Samardzic, Gaetano, Zalewski; Cassa, Krstovic, Raspadori. Coach: Sarri.

AREZZO (4-3-3): Seculin; Martinez, Illanes, Gilli, Coccia; Manes, Cortesi, Ionita; Tavernelli, Cerri, Sala. Coach: Bucchi.