Free-scoring Atalanta welcome English champions Liverpool to the Gewiss Stadium on Tuesday as Matchday 3 of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League gets underway.
Having taken four points from a possible six, Atalanta find themselves second in Group D – two points behind frontrunners Liverpool, who have secured two wins so far.
La Dea thrashed Midtjylland 4-0 on Matchday 1 before clinching a 2-2 comeback draw with Ajax last week.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were 2-0 down at half-time, but a second-half brace from Duvan Zapata earned them a well-deserved point.
Atalanta racked up a whopping 19 shots against Crotone at the weekend, although Luis Muriel’s double saw La Dea edge the newly promoted side 2-1.
Four wins and two defeats from their opening six league games mean Atalanta sit fourth in Serie A – four points behind leaders AC Milan.
Gasperini’s men are the second-highest scorers in the Italian top-flight (17), but only five teams in the division have conceded more goals (13).
Meanwhile, Liverpool kicked off their Champions League campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to Ajax.
But the Reds secured a far more comfortable win on Matchday 2, with goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah earning them a 2-0 victory over Midtjylland.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are now on a run of four wins in all competitions following a 2-1 victory over West Ham on Saturday.
Jota and Salah were the goal scorers again at the weekend as Liverpool moved two points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Following a number of hugely successful substitute performances, Jota will surely be pushing for s pot in Klopp’s starting XI after bagging four goals in his first nine appearances for his new club.
Like Atalanta, Liverpool are the second-highest scorers in their league (17). However, the Reds have conceded the most goals in the EPL this term (15).
Head-to-head: Tuesday’s clash will be the very first competitive meeting between Atalanta and Liverpool, so there are no previous results to assess for this matchup.
Team news: Atalanta will be without Mattia Caldara, Marco Carnesecchi, Marten de Roon, and Marco Tumminello through injury.
Liverpool also have a number of notable absentees, with Fabinho, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all sidelined.
If the recent goalscoring record of these two teams in anything to go by, Tuesday’s clash is destined to produce plenty of goals at both ends of the pitch.
Forebet predicts that Atalanta and Liverpool will both score over 1.5 goals, although a draw appears to be the most likely outcome.