Champions League, Atalanta at the crossroads: Ivan Juric seeks answers
After a month of October characterized by only draws and a negative start to November with the Udine knockout, Atalanta is at a crossroads: Ivan Juric’s team must redeem itself in the Champions League in the not easy away match in Marseille against Olympique, in order to regain confidence and not already lose touch with the positions that, at the end of January, will lead to the knockout stage.
Talking in a press conference, Juric himself said he did not feel in danger, but expected a better match than the one played on Saturday: “We lacked victory in the October matches – he said – but at the level of performance we never disappointed. Then came the game with Udinese’and in that one I did not like the team, but we can get back to doing well as early as tomorrow”.
Juric, in his answers to reporters, also tried to relieve his players of the burden of responsibility: “The match we play against Marseille is important but it is not decisive – he explained.”
The boys just have to take the field and play well, as they have done almost always this year. It will be important to score points but the road is still long”.
In the first three matches of the Champions League Phase, Atalanta first lost 4-0 at home to defending champions PSG, then took revenge in front of their home crowd against Club Bruges, beating them 2-1 in a comeback, and finally drew 0-0 against Slavia Prague. In addition to the Marseille trip, the schedule then features matches against Eintracht Frankfurt (Nov. 26 in Germany), Chelsea (Dec. 9 at home), Athletic Bilbao (Jan. 21 also in Bergamo) and Union Saint-Gilloise (Jan. 28 in Belgium).
