Atalanta v Udinese: the brainteaser

Second Sunday lunch match in a row for the Nerazzurri who, after playing Napoli and Stuttgart away, will make their homecoming to the Gewiss Stadium for their first and only November home fixture. As tradition dictates, here is our lead-in quiz special!

Which Atalanta player closed his Nerazzurro career scoring in Bergamo against Udinese?

May 8 2016, with the last home fixture of the 2015/16 Serie A in contention, MD37 saw the Nerazzurri play Udinese at the then "Atlleti Azzurri d'Italia". After the visitors took the lead through Zapata, surely one of the most illustrious "exes" of the game, Atalanta levelled from the spot after being awarded a penalty due to a hand-ball on Boriello, ready as always to leave his mark in the box. Approaching the penalty spot, our stalwart number 6, Gianpaolo Bellini himself converted the penalty with spotless precision and sub-zero coolness to thus score his sixth-ever goal with the black-and-blue shirt (his first in Bergamo) sending the Curva Nord into a frenzy. On 51 minutes came the second "highlight" of the game for the Orobic captain: not a goal (as the game culminated in a 1-1 draw) but a substitution instead, if not a “rite of passage”. Leaving the pitch for Toloi, the black-and-blue stalwart legend put an end to a career of 435 games (of which 281 in the Serie A alone) as One Club Man.

From one black-and-blue legend to another, while the unforgettable Mino Favini did indeed score his last goal in a home match against the Bianconeri (namely, making it 2-0 in the 1961-1962 Serie A's MD22). Which wasn't his last home appearance, though: Favini would have trodden the Brumana pitch on four further occasions (namely against Bologna, Catania, Palermo and Padova).

The third player on the list, Glenn Stromberg bagged against Udinese his 12th Atalanta goal: the Swede midfielder made it 3-1 in the 1986/87 Serie A MD27 ( 4-2 was the final outcome instead).

Paniati was the player behind Atalanta's goal in the very first game played in Bergamo against the Furlan side, which ended in a 3-3 draw on Serie B 1930/31 Serie B matchday 18.

How many Nerazzurri have bagged goal hauls against Udinese in Bergamo?

Out of the 78 goals scored thus far by the hosts against the Furlans, 26 (a third of the total) came through multiple black-and-blue scorings. In particular, 10 Nerazzurri have scored 2+ goals in the same game (sometimes featuring on several occasions).

Going in chronological order, the first (or rather first, second and thrid considering the scoresheet) orobic player(s) to have left their multiple marks against the Furlan Zebras have been Panzeri, Sanero and Barisone (2 goals each in the 7-0 walkover back in the 1930/31 Serie B season). Who came next were Brugola's duplet and Rasmussen's hat-trick in our 5-0 win back in the 1950/51 top-flight scramble.The Dane striker struck again in our 6-0 win in the 1953-1954 campaign with another brace, such was the bounty of his team-mate Bassetto.

Along the same lines followed Incocciati (two goals in the 4-1 triumph in the 1986/87 Serie A) Denis (likewise a duplet to seal our 2-0 win in the 2013/24 MD6), Ilicic (two goals in our MD9 7-1 roaring succes back in the 2019/20 campaign) and then Muriel, the overall and home topscorer of the trifle with 12 nets in total (of which, 6 in Bergamo). With a hat-trick (in our aforementioned goleada) and a brace (to break the deadlock and then double our lead in the 2020/21 MD29 3-2 win), not only is the Colombian striker the first (and only thus far) player to have waylaid Rasmussen's previous best, but he's also the last black-and-blue to have closed a multiple home scoring against Udinese.

Will Sunday's game mark our 50th home match-up v Udinese?

False. Despite Idinese being one of the sides with the highest count of the previous matchup (sitting 12th with 96 games across all competitions) Sunday's match will be the 48th home game to take place in the Orobic city (with the breakdown being 40 Serie A encounter, 5 games in the cadet championship and 2 Coppa Italia matches). As for a more thorough insight, we lead both in terms of goals (78 against 38) and positive outcomes (with 19 wins, 21 draws and 7 losses).

When did our last home setback occur? MD16 of the 2016/17 Serie A and 1-3 on the scoresheet (with Kurtic scoring the temporary equaliser). From that slip-up onwards, Atalanta started an ongoing positive streak of 7 consecutive useful games (namely, 5 wins and 2 draws)