Atalanta v Lazio: the brainteaser

And for our April kick-off, Lazio stop by in Bergamo to usher in the new month: stepping onto the Gewiss Stadium pitch to get the ball going on the first of two back-to-back home fixtures on the Nerazzurri's agenda, the Biancocelesti will be the first stepping stone of this homebody fortnight... As we count down to Sunday's kick-off, here's the usual pre-match quiz to get you in the game!

Rasmussen, Caniggia, Doni, Ilicic: who didn't score a brace against Lazio in Bergamo?

Talking about four goal-scoring decades packed into a single question! Despite all four finding their scoring ways against Lazio, both at home and away, during their Atalanta tenure, only one couldn't bag a brace in front of the Bergamo faithful, who?

Going in "decreasing order" (a term intentionally in quotation marks considered the names on the list), in addition to being the first notable absentee, Josip was also the (second-)last Atalanta player to have netted twice in Bergamo: it was in fact the Prijedor magician who left his mark twice in the climactic 3-3 draw back in the 2017/18 Serie A MD17.

Taking a step back in time whilst also climbing up the all-time goalscorers' charts, here comes Cristiano Doni! During his double stint in Bergamo, Atalanta's number 27 and 72 scored two goals against Lazio, both at home and both, meaning he's not "the odd one out" this week, in one fell sweep too! We're of course talking about his 2009-2010 MD20 blitzkrieg, when the Roman striker struck twice like thunder in just under 3 minutes...

Let's now move to the third player "left out in the cold" and the match's historic top scorer nonetheless: "the son of the wind" Claudio Caniggia! With 4 goals to his name, 3 of which came in Bergamo, no other Atalanta player thus far has matched the feat achieved by the forward from Henderson between 1989 and 1991... And, sticking with the topic, it was no other than Caniggia's double that opened the scoring in the now iconic 4-0 win by the Mondonico side.

Time to get to the nitty gritty, Poul Rasmussen**:** unlike his successors and despite the three goals bagged against the Capitol side, the Danish striker and ninth all-time Atalanta top scorer found the back of the net only in away games!

And now, the bonus question: who was the last player to strike twice at home against Lazio? You guessed it: Charles De Ketelaere, the hero of last season’s 3-1 win (highlights below)!

2008/09 Serie A, Atalanta 2-0 Lazio: who broke the deadlock?

On November 30 2008, under a torrential downpour, Del Neri's Atalanta took on Lazio, then coached by former Nerazzurri caretaker Delio Rossi, in the Serie A MD14.

After a somewhat cautious start, perhaps spurred by a dangerous Zarate solo right after the opening whistle, the first half proved itself an evenly-matched affair right until the half-hour mark, when the game unwinded from its initial tension: after Doni tested the waters with a lukewarm ranged right-footer, Floccari, deflected out for a corner by Rozenhal, and Zarate, denied by Coppola's stunning display in a mano-a-mano, followed suit but the scoreline remained unchanged.

As the tempo picked up in the second half, Atalanta's edge on the Capitol side grew by the minute: in the 49th came Jaime Valdés... A mazy run down the left wing, a trademark dribble to cut through the middle, a sharp step-over to create an opening and then a left-footed strike... Just over the bar! But it was just a matter of time before the Pajarito got back in the thick of things: Padoin's pressure on Rozenhal allowed Floccari to return the favour to the former Newcastle player, triggering Atalanta's counter. Gathering the pass, the Chilean returned it to Atalanta's 33 who, after drawing Lazio's rearguard on his tail, slipped a return pass to the onrushing 20... With the opposing defence bent out of shape and Carrizo off guard, Valdés nestled the ball into an empty net with an angled left-footer to give Atalanta the lead with the first of his 10 goals donning the Orobic shirt.

With the lead in hand, the Nerazzurri stepped onto the gas, going close to double their lead twice (first with Valdés and then with a volley from Guarente off a Ferreira Pinto cross-field pass) before setting the 2-0 in stone in the 68th minute with Floccari: as a Padoin through pass sliced through Lazio's opposition, Floccari, ice-cold in front of Carrizo, chipped the ball into the net with a finesse lob.

Led by an unwavering Zarate, the only biancoceleste real threat throughout the game, Lazio tried to shrug off the double deficit, with Atalanta nonetheless coming close to a third on the brink of injury time with Doni and withstanding the visiting onslaught until the last breath as Coppola bested the opposing number 10 once again in the 91st.

How many matches does our longest unbeaten home streak against Lazio amount to?

This Sunday will mark the 67th encounter between the two sides in Bergamo across all competitions (with the count stopping at 56 in the Serie A alone). When zooming in purely on domestic skirmishes, not only do Atalanta come out on top results-wise (having claimed 26 wins against Lazio's 11 and the remaining 29 draws), but also lead the way as far as offensive output is concerned thanks to a whopping 30-goal advantage (91 to 61) in their favour.

To further "lay it on the thick" with the wight held by the home factor, keep in mind that, while out of the 157 overall goals scored by Atalanta against Lazio to date, 58% have come in Bergamo; 63% of victories (out of the 41 in total) have been claimed in the Orobic capital.

With this in mind, how long has Atalanta's longest unbeaten run at home lasted?

While on the third step of the podium sits the 5-match unbeaten streak (3 wins, 2 draws, all in the Serie A) spanning the 2004/05 to 2009/10 seasons, second place however goes to the the 9 matches (again, all in the Italian top flight) stretching from the 1937/38 season—the year of the first encounter between the two teams in Bergamo, which ended in a goalless draw—to the 1-0 victory in the 1950/51 campaign: this sequence includes 6 thriumphs including the 5-0 drubbing on May 2, 1948, namely our biggest win over Lazio to date.

Coming to the crunch, how about our longest unbeaten run, then?

With a few gaps along the way, the record-breaking total stands at 24 matches across all competitions (17 in the Serie A, 5 in the Coppa Italia, and 2 in the Serie B), lasting nearly four decades, from the 1957/58 season to the 1993/94 campaign. How about the opening and closing results of this streak? Two 1-1 draws: the first, on October 13 1957, with a goal by Annovazzi and the last, on December 5 1993, courtesy of Orlandini. In between, a true slice of Nerazzurri history: from Domenghini and Nova all the way to the fivr back-to.back wins of the 80s and 90s featuring stalwart legends such as Evair, Caniggia and Stromberg!