Atalanta vs Fiorentina

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Wrapping up the 2023-24 Serie A season, Atalanta BC and Fiorentina face off on Sunday evening to finally play a long-delayed match.

The two clubs had contrasting outcomes in recent UEFA finals and now meet in Bergamo, where the Europa League champions, Atalanta, will continue celebrating their breakthrough victory.

Initially postponed due to Fiorentina director Joe Barone suffering a heart attack shortly before the match—an event that sadly led to his passing—the fixture between Fiorentina and Atalanta has sparked much discussion since then.

It was eventually rescheduled for a time when all other Serie A teams had already begun their well-deserved holidays. Both teams' progress in European competitions made fitting in additional matches nearly impossible.

Atalanta's triumph over the seemingly unbeatable Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin ended a 61-year wait for a trophy, marking a significant achievement for veteran coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

Ademola Lookman scored a stunning hat-trick in the final, played just a week after La Dea lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia final. The Nigerian international then scored again in Atalanta's penultimate league match, a 3-0 win over Torino.

With this outcome, Gasperini's team can potentially position third in the final Serie A standings, after both Milan clubs, and surpass cup-final winners Juventus. Should they win this weekend, the Lombardy region would also finish 1-2-3. 

Since Atalanta hasn't won six straight league games since 2021—only Italian champions Inter have earned more points from home games this season—confidence will be high in the Atalanta camp. 

Additionally, the Nerazzurri have plenty of firepower: for the first time in club history, four players have scored ten goals or more in a single Serie A season: Lookman, Charles De Ketelaere, Teun Koopmeiners, and Gianluca Scamacca (both with 12 goals).

While their hosts are in high spirits, Fiorentina must be lamenting that their season didn't conclude at the final whistle on Wednesday, following another bout of heartbreak in the Europa Conference League final in Athens.

Reflecting the shortcomings that have left the Viola in eighth place in Serie A, they struggled to penetrate a resolute Olympiacos defense in the Greek capital, ultimately succumbing after extra time.

A year after losing to West Ham United in the 2023 edition, and following last season's Coppa Italia final defeat to Inter, Vincenzo Italiano's squad endured yet another bitter loss. Now, they are set to face the team that eliminated them in this season's cup semifinals.

Though Fiorentina have won three of their last five league matches against Atalanta—having won only one of the previous 10—they squandered a 1-0 first-leg advantage on their most recent trip to Bergamo. La Dea capitalized on Nikola Milenkovic's dismissal to turn the match in their favor.

Gian Piero Gasperini might be inclined to provide opportunities to some peripheral players in Atalanta's final match of the season, but with third place still up for grabs, key figures like Gianluca Scamacca should be in the starting lineup come Sunday.

Since late March, no player in the top five European leagues has been more directly involved in goals (14) than the Italian forward, who recently earned a spot in Luciano Spalletti's Euro 2024 squad.

Atalanta's captain Marten De Roon will miss the Euros due to an injury sustained in the team's cup final loss, while Sead Kolasinac might also sit out the season's end due to a knee issue; additionally, Hans Hateboer is serving a suspension.

Fiorentina will only be without Riccardo Sottil, who suffered a collarbone fracture earlier in the month, with Gaetano Castrovilli now eligible after missing Wednesday's Conference League final.

Expected to shuffle the lineup after the recent setback, Vincenzo Italiano is likely to continue his frequent rotations; the highly regarded coach rarely fields the same XI twice, and only Newcastle and Cagliari have seen goals scored by more different players (18) in Europe's top five leagues this season.

Giacomo Bonaventura had a disappointing outing midweek and was recently omitted by Spalletti, but he has managed to score eight league goals in the 2023-24 season so far - his joint-highest tally in a single Serie A campaign. After making his first 99 top-flight appearances for Atalanta between 2008 and 2014, 'Jack' has since netted four times against them, including once in September's reverse fixture, which ended in a 3-2 home victory for Fiorentina.

In the midfield selection competition, goal-shy strikers Andrea Belotti and M'Bala Nzola are vying for a single spot upfront, though Lucas Beltran could be pushed forward from his usual supporting role instead.