Atalanta in Salerno hunting for Champions points

The race for Champions League continues for Atalanta as they travel to Salerno and aim for their third consecutive victory. On the other hand, Salernitana, who last week bid farewell to Serie A TIM, has nothing to lose and wants to give their fans something to cheer.

DID YOU KNOW?

Salernitana – officially relegated to Serie B after their defeat last time out – are only the sixth team in Serie A history to have recorded 15 or fewer points after 34 matches of a season, alongside Lecce in 1993-94, Brescia in 1994-95, Napoli in 1997-98, Ancona in 2003-04 and Pescara in 2016-17. Salernitana are the only team yet to win a match in the big five European leagues so far in 2024; their last success dates back to their final match played in 2023 (1-0 against Hellas Verona), when they were managed by Filippo Inzaghi. Since the beginning of 2023, Atalanta have faced a team starting the matchday in the relegation zone on five occasions in Serie A, winning each match by an aggregate score of 14-3.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Salernitana have lost three of their seven matches against Atalanta in Serie A (W1 D3), which includes one of the two biggest defeats in the history of the Granata in the Italian top-flight: 8-2 on 15th January 2023 (alongside a 7-1 defeat against Torino in 1947). The seven Serie A meetings between Salernitana and Atalanta have seen a total of 19 goals, but only two of those were scored at the home of the Granata, where the head-to-head record is balanced: one win each and a draw.

PLAYERS

The first of three braces scored by Ademola Lookman in Serie A came against Salernitana in Atalanta's 8-2 success in January 2023; since the beginning of April, no player has been involved in more goals than the Nigerian in Serie A (4 - 1 goal, 3 assists), alongside Hakan Çalhanoglu and Alexis Saelemaekers. Gianluca Scamacca – who has scored in each of his last three league appearances (against Napoli, Cagliari and Verona) – has never scored in four games in a row in Serie A; furthermore, with a goal this weekend he would hit 10+ goals in a single season for the second time in the big five European leagues, after also doing so in 2021-22 (16 goals with Sassuolo). With his next appearance, Antonio Candreva will surpass the milestone of 500 games played in Serie A to move to 17th in the list of most games played in the history of the competition; the 37-year-old is also the oldest midfielder to have both scored more than five goals and provided more than five assists (6+6) in the big five European leagues in 2023-24.

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: Pierozzi (Salernitana) Cautioned: Gyömbér, Pirola (Salernitana); Djimsiti, Gasperini, Hateboer, Kolasinac, Koopmeiners, Lookman (Atalanta)

REFEREE

Feliciani (L. Rossi-Di Giacinto) IV: Santoro, VAR: Gariglio, AVAR: Di Paolo

UPCOMING MATCHES IN SERIE A TIM

Juventus-Salernitana (Sunday 12 May, 18:00 CEST) Atalanta-Roma (Sunday 12 May, 20:45 CEST) (Photo LaPresse)