Atalanta v Genoa: the brainteaser

Back to the Gewiss Stadium after two trips in a row, to Bologna and Gelsenkirchen respectively, the Nerazzurri welcome Genoa for their last commitment before the second international break of the season. A fully-fledged generational clash, Saturday's game will see "mentor" Gasperini play his "pupil" Gilardino. Ready yourselves with three trivia about the game!

How many games does our current unbeaten streak v Genoa comprise?

Saturday's match will be the 79th Serie A meeting between the two clubs. Given that the wins, draws and defeats (26) are evenly split between the two clubs, how many matches in a row have we gone unbeaten against Genoa?

The Ligurian side's last victory in Bergamo dates back to the 19th round of the 2015/16 season when the visitors imposed themselves 2-0. That defeat, however, was the start of one of the Nerazzurri's longest unbeaten streaks against the Rossoblù, which began with a 3-0 win the following season and continued with four wins and three draws for a total of seven consecutive unbeaten games.

Relive last season's victory with the highlights from the match!

How many players from the current rosters have swapped shirts?

With the exclusion of the "elephant in the room", given the extensive tenure of the Grugliasco-born coach on Genoa's sidelines, Gian Piero Gasperini, this year's Atalanta v Genoa will be even more pivoted on the encounter-clash topic, as the count of players to have donned both shirts has now risen to 6.

This will be Mateo Retegui's first game in the Atalanta shirt against his former team: after joining Genoa during the 2023/24 summer transfer window from Club Atlético Tigre, Mateo made 31 appearances in the Rossoblù shirt (scoring 9 goals) across all competitions.

Pierluigi Gollini, on the other hand, has gone the other way: the goalkeeper born in 1995 (112 appearances in total in four-and-a-half seasons with Bergamo) joined the Ligurian side this summer.

Another outstanding “alumnus”, wingback Davide Zappacosta donned the Griffin’s shirt for 24 games (scoring 4 goals and providing 2 assists in the meantime) during his one-season stint in Liguria in the 2021/21 season before making his homecoming in Bergamo back in the summer transfer window of 2021. As a bonus trivia, Atalanta’s number 77 has turned Genoa into his “number one target” having exacted the ex’s law four goals across his stint in Torino (1) and his two tenures as a Nerazzurro (3, including his scoring debut on the 6th of January 2015) on his former team.

Filippo Melengoni is the fourth player to have gone back and forth between Bergamo and Genoa: born and bred in the black-and-blue Academy, where he spent 12 seasons between 2006 and 2018 and lifted the Under-17s championship in 2017, the 1998 midfielder made his First Team debut on January 22 2017, featuring Atalanta’s starting XI in the 1-0 win over Sampdoria.

The final two players on the list are Gianluca Scamacca and Ruslan Malinovskyi, who will miss the match through injury. While the Roma striker made 29 appearances (12 goals and 2 assists) in all competitions during his season at Genoa, the Ukrainian midfielder made 143 appearances (30 goals) for the Nerazzurri during his four-and-a-half seasons in Bergamo.

Finally, if you answered seven including Nicolò Zaniolo, the answer would be 50% correct: although our number 10 played for the Grifone in the 2009/10 campaign, Zaniolo was only registered at youth level with Genoa.

Zappacosta and Malinovskyi in action during last season's Atalanta v Genoa

What is the most recurring result in Bergamo?

Of the 55 games played in Bergamo in all competitions since the 1937-1938 season, when the two teams first met, Atalanta have won 23 to Genoa's 15, drawn 17. 113 goals have been scored, with an average of more than two goals per game.

But what is the most common result? At the top of the list, with nine matches to its name, is the 1-0 home win, followed by the goalless draw (8) and the 1-1 draw or Genoa win (6).

What are the least common outcomes? There are two wins for each side, both of which have only happened once and are completely opposite: a 3-0 win for the Bergamaschi, as mentioned in the opening of this article, and a 1-4 for the Rossoblù (in the 2014/15 season).