Hellas Verona v Atalanta – Preview: Mandorlini in make or break match

Date: 23rd January 2015 at 5:03pm
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Atalanta travel to the Stadio Bentegodi to face Hellas Verona in round 20 of the Serie A season on Sunday afternoon with La Dea hoping to leapfrog their opponents and distance themselves from the relegation battle.

Verona sit in 14th in the Serie A table on 21 points, while Atalanta are only one point beneath them in 15th and it could be a goal-filled affair as both teams have the worst and second worst goal difference outside of the bottom three in the division, on -11 and -9 respectively.

Andrea Mandorlini’s men have lost three of their last six league games, with two of those, a 3-1 loss to Sampdoria and 1-0 defeat by rivals Chievo, coming at home while the other loss was a 4-0 thrashing at Juventus.

Meanwhile, Stefano Colantuono’s team are unbeaten in 2015 in Serie A after travelling to the Stadio Meazza and claiming a 1-0 victory over AC Milan last week, but before that match they last won away from home on September 21.

Their last meeting was on the first day of this Serie A season which ended as a goalless draw, but Verona haven’t lost to La Dea in Serie A since 2006.

Verona coach Mandorlini is under some pressure after recent reports which have suggested that he will be sacked as Gialloblu coach if he doesn’t claim victory this weekend, although it is a harsh ultimatum as their last two games, being 6-1 and 4-0 losses, were against champions Juventus.

Star man Luca Toni made his opinion clear that he wants the 54-year-old to stay, and he will be doing his best to secure the coach’s position when he starts against Atalanta this weekend, but his strike partner is yet to be decided as Mandorlini has a choice between Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Javier Saviola, with the latter seeming most likely.

Also, Emil Hallfreðsson is set to come into the side with Leandro Greco serving a one match ban after picking up four yellow cards.

Atalanta will look to German Denis, who netted the winner against Milan last week and will start in an unchanged line-up, with Boukary Drame on international duty in the African Cup of Nations.

Form Guide: Hellas Verona (L-W-L-D-W-L) Atalanta (L-W-D-D-D-W)

Expected Starting XIs

Hellas Verona: Rafael; Marques, Marquez, Rodriguez; Martic, Sala, Tachtsidis, Halfredsson, Brivio; Saviola, Toni

Atalanta: Sportiello; Benalouane, Biava, Stendardo, Del Grosso; Zappacosta, Cigarini, Carmona, Moralez; Pinilla, Denis

 

2 responses to “Hellas Verona v Atalanta – Preview: Mandorlini in make or break match”

  1. ETV says:

    Who is this Banner in the Atalanta line up?

  2. ETV says:

    Stendardo?