Atalanta v Empoli: the brainteaser
Three trivia on our 2024/25 Xmas Match
Can't you feel the Christmas Spirit?! Atalanta's opponents under the tree this year are Empoli, who will be in Bergamo for the traditional 'Christmas match', the Nerazzurri's last home game before 25 December. The match against the Tuscans, on the eve of Atalanta's final commitment until 2024, will also mark the start of the 'winter holidays' at the Gewiss Stadium, which will not welcome its fans again until the end of January 2025! So get ready for the 'last dance' at home in 2024!
What was the outcome of our previous Xmas Match v Empoli?
Sunday's game won't be our very first game under the Christmas Tree against Empoli: 2016/17 season, as part of the early kick-off for the (Match)day before the second round's eve, coach Gasperini's Nerazzurri welcomed Martusciello's Empoli at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia. Atalanta soloed the first half with 7 corner kicks and 8 shots on target. After Petagna threatened first in the opening, it came Papu Gomez's turn at challenging the Tuscanian backline on 15 minutes: after wrongfooting Cosic, the Argentinian cut through and stung Skorupski's gloves with his curler, deflected out for a corner by the Polish keeper. After a lukewarm visiting retaliation, Atalanta laid siege once again on Empoli: on 25 minutes, following the deflection on Gomez's scorcher, Petagna lunged for the rebound and collided with the opposing keeper but the referee waved play on. The Orobic embargo lasted unabated until the first minute of injury time, when Freuler's free kick got sidetracked by Zukanovic's headed save.
Despite substitute Kessié ushering in the second half with another black-and-blue chance, the visiting side took the lead instead in the 51st through Mchedlidze, who found the winning deflection on Di Marco's cut-through free-kick. Flying in the face of the cold shower, the Nerazzurri didn't throw in the towel but rathered levelled the playing field through a powerful drive of their then number 19, who cleaved the ball into the bottom corner to deliver the equalising uppercut. Despite the hosts' forcing courtesy of Kessié and Gagliardini, a draw seemed the only possible outcome; was it not for D’Alessandro, who emerged victorious from the scramble and unwrapped the 2-1 to gift Atalanta the three points.
2018/19 Serie A MD32, Atalanta 0-0 Empoli. How much was the Nerazzurri's shot count?
A "Twilight Zone" game, the April 15 2019 early kick-off went down the history book for crashing all existing football-related probability and computational models whilst establishing a whole host of offensive records, some of them still in force. To give further context to the uncanniness of the game, even more so considering the final outcome, the expected goals parameter registered an outstanding 5,86 for the Nerazzurri. 17 were the saves performed by Dragowski instead, with the Empoli keeper besting a record first established in the 2003/04 campaign in the meantime. Given the individual parameter, how about tracing the aggregated picture by guessing the Nerazzurri's shots count during the game? Was 41 your go-to answer, you'd be getting warmer but no cigar still: while Atalanta indeed racked up such a barrage in another home clash against Empoli (namely in the 2021/22 MD38, which culminated in the Azzurri's 0-1 narrow win), Atalanta outbeat themselves in 2019 with 47 shots, of which 18 on target.
When did our first-ever Bergamo clash occur?
With 34 games played thus far in all competitions (the aggregated balance sees the Nerazzurri on top both in terms of wins, 15 to 6, and goals scored, 38 to 24) in all competitions; the clash against the Tuscanian side flaunts one of the smallest overall matches-tally among the members of the current Serie A roster (only surpassed by Monza, currently sitting at 30 games). If scarcity wasn't the only trait of the contention, the match-up against the Azzurri is likewise characterized by an unparalleled recentness. When did our first-ever Bergamo clash occur? Had you answered 1986/87 season; you would have hit a (partial at least) bullseye: to the aforementioned campaign dates back our first-ever Serie A encounter in Bergamo (MD4 and a Nerazzurro 1-0 win). As for 1983/84, such was the season when our first clash in the Serie B (MD30 and another victory for the home side, once again a 1-0 success). How about the corrct answer, then? 1981/82 it's the red-letter season! Namely, the Serie C-1 Group A MD9. And how did the mtch go? Yet another 1-0 triumph.