We open our 2024/25 Champions League campaign in Bergamo when we take on Atalanta on Thursday night (8pm UK), looking to get the new-look league phase off to the best possible start.
The first of our eight matches, all against different opponents, comes against the reigning Europa League holders who knocked out Sporting Lisbon, Liverpool and Marseille before stunning Bayer Leverkusen in the final courtesy of an Ademola Lookman hat-trick, and Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will be hoping to make their mark in Europe again.
It will be the first time the two clubs have faced each other, but Mikel Arteta will be hoping that we can bring our impressive domestic away form into Europe in the first of two massive matches in the space of four days, as we aim to progress past our quarter-final appearance last term.
Atalanta finding their feet
Courtesy of their Europa League success last term and a fourth-place finish in Serie A, Atalanta have secured their first Champions League berth since 2021/22, but this campaign so far has been a mixed bag with two wins and two losses from their opening four league games.
It began with a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final, but the Italians bounced back by recording a 4-0 success at Lecce on the opening day with new signings Marco Brescianini and Mateo Retegui notching braces on their league debuts - the latter has four in four since his summer move from Genoa.
A last-minute penalty miss by Mario Pasalic saw a point slip away in a 2-1 loss at Torino, before Inter Milan put four past them without reply. Atalanta’s first home game at a redeveloped Gewiss Stadium came against Fiorentina on Sunday, and they found themselves 1-0 and 2-1 down before winning 3-2, with Lookman bagging the winner with a fine solo strike.
What the managers say
Arteta: “It’s very difficult to play against [Atalanta]! They have a particular playing style which you see week-in, week-out and it’s very challenging for opponents coming up against them. In the last two seasons, the Premier League has changed a lot, you’ve got a lot of squads that are doing similar things to them and we need to be prepared ahead of tomorrow.
“Last year was a great campaign for us. We got to a place where we hadn’t been as a club for 16 or 18 years, but we weren’t happy or satisfied at all because we want more. They showed their hunger. I think we have the ability, we certainly have the quality - and now we have to prove it."
Gasperini: "It will be difficult to get into the top eight. To stay between ninth and 24th, we have to pick up points in every game. We start with a really tough test, but it is an opportunity to measure ourselves. We’ve been playing in Europe for several years now, it’s clear that continuity has allowed us to continue growing.
“[Arsenal] are a team I really like, they are very compact, organised, they are a good example of how to play football. The results speak for themselves. I don’t know [Arteta] personally, but as a coach he has all my respect. It’s a beautiful team to watch.”
Team news
Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori returned to training ahead of the game and have been included in the matchday squad that travelled to Italy, while Declan Rice has completed his Premier League suspension and is able to play for us domestically and in Europe.
Martin Odegaard will likely be out for the next few matches with ankle ligament damage, joining Mikel Merino (shoulder), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) on the sidelines.
A trio of Italian internationals will likely be unavailable for Gasperini. Former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scammacca and young defender Georgio Scalvini are out long-term with ACL injuries, while club captain Rafael Toloi is struggling with a muscle complaint.
Ex-Everton centre-back Ben Godfrey is also a doubt having missed the Fiorentina win with a lower back problem, but former Gunner Sead Kolasinac and Albania international Berat Djimsiti returned from injuries to line up in defence.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: 3-4-2-1 is Gasperini's most likely choice against us - the shape the 66-year-old used to defeat Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. Out of possession Atalanta almost always adopt a man-to-man marking approach, and they press with discipline and intent. They do not make it easy for opponents to play through the lines.
On the ball, their front three are encouraged to interchange positions, which makes them a fluid, entertaining side to watch. Both wing-backs stay high and wide, with a pair of defensive sitting midfielders holding the engine room together. Atalanta are a terrific counter-attacking side, with just one Serie A team producing more direct attacks last term.
Retegui’s [above] finishing and aerial power must be respected, and Belgian attacking midfielder Charles De Ketelaere is another opponent who needs to be shackled closely inside the final third. Their star turn though, is Lookman. The Nigerian is a clever dribbler with searing pace, and the ability to strike the ball cleanly with either foot. He will drift in off the left, looking to cause havoc whenever the hosts build an attack.
Gasperini doesn’t mind leaving his defenders 1v1, but longer passes or quality third-man runs can undo them. They have conceded a joint-high eight goals in their first four league matches, and it won’t have gone unnoticed that half of those concessions stemmed from set-pieces.
Facts and stats
Only Real Sociedad (4) kept more clean sheets in last season’s group stage than us (3), however we haven’t kept a clean sheet in our last 10 on the road in the competition since a 3-0 win at Olympiakos in December 2015.
Only Atletico Madrid (+6.16) overperformed their xG total by a higher figure than us in last season’s Champions League (+5.49 – 19 goals from an xG of 13.51).
Atalanta’s 23 Champions League matches have seen 3.6 goals per game, the second-most of any team to feature 20+ times in the competition, behind Viktoria Plzen (3.8 per game).
Bukayo Saka was involved in eight goals in nine Champions League games last term, the most by an Englishman in their debut season, breaking the record set by Lee Bowyer for Leeds United in 2000/01 (6 goals, 1 assist).
Raheem Sterling could become the first player in European Cup history to play for four different English teams, having previously played for Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. Atalanta is the side he has his most goal involvements against in the competition (5 – 4 goals, 1 assist), including a hat-trick in October 2019.
Gabriel Jesus scored in all four of his Champions League starts last season. In the competition’s history, only Filippo Inzaghi, Diego Costa, Neymar and Sebastien Haller have scored in each of their first five starts for a specific club.
The Brazilian has 20 goal involvements in his last 18 starts in the competition (15 goals, 5 assists), scoring and assisting in each of his last two (Sevilla and Lens).
Match officials
Clement Turpin heads an all-French officiating team. An experienced official, he has been on the FIFA list since 2010 and has taken charge of matches at the last two World Cups and three European Championships, as well as the 2022 Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
It will be the sixth time the PE teacher has refereed us, and he has proved to be a lucky omen. We have not lost any match he’s officiated, with the last of which being our 1-0 win against Porto back in March. That run also includes a win in Italy - a 2-0 success at AC Milan in 2018.
Referee: Clement Turpin
Assistants: Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages
Fourth official: Stephanie Frappart
VAR: Jerome Brisard
Assistant VAR: Willy Delajod
Recent trips to Italy
Italy has been a country we’ve enjoyed visiting on our European travels, with seven wins and five draws coming from our 18 previous matches there.
This is our first visit since April 2019 when we beat Napoli 1-0 to reach the Europa League semi-finals, courtesy of an Alexandre Lacazette free-kick. The season before, we triumphed in Milan when we beat AC 2-0 in the San Siro in the same competition.
However, when it comes to the Champions League, we have lost our last three games in the country, although this is our first game there since 2013. Those defeats came at Roma in 2009, AC Milan in 2012 and Napoli a year later.
Live coverage
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from 7.55pm UK time for live commentary of the game from the Gewiss Stadium, with Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke guiding you through the action.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live, wherever you are in the world.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
We open our 2024/25 Champions League campaign in Bergamo when we take on Atalanta on Thursday night (8pm UK), looking to get the new-look league phase off to the best possible start.
The first of our eight matches, all against different opponents, comes against the reigning Europa League holders who knocked out Sporting Lisbon, Liverpool and Marseille before stunning Bayer Leverkusen in the final courtesy of an Ademola Lookman hat-trick, and Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will be hoping to make their mark in Europe again.
It will be the first time the two clubs have faced each other, but Mikel Arteta will be hoping that we can bring our impressive domestic away form into Europe in the first of two massive matches in the space of four days, as we aim to progress past our quarter-final appearance last term.
Atalanta finding their feet
Courtesy of their Europa League success last term and a fourth-place finish in Serie A, Atalanta have secured their first Champions League berth since 2021/22, but this campaign so far has been a mixed bag with two wins and two losses from their opening four league games.
It began with a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final, but the Italians bounced back by recording a 4-0 success at Lecce on the opening day with new signings Marco Brescianini and Mateo Retegui notching braces on their league debuts - the latter has four in four since his summer move from Genoa.
A last-minute penalty miss by Mario Pasalic saw a point slip away in a 2-1 loss at Torino, before Inter Milan put four past them without reply. Atalanta’s first home game at a redeveloped Gewiss Stadium came against Fiorentina on Sunday, and they found themselves 1-0 and 2-1 down before winning 3-2, with Lookman bagging the winner with a fine solo strike.
What the managers say
Arteta: “It’s very difficult to play against [Atalanta]! They have a particular playing style which you see week-in, week-out and it’s very challenging for opponents coming up against them. In the last two seasons, the Premier League has changed a lot, you’ve got a lot of squads that are doing similar things to them and we need to be prepared ahead of tomorrow.
“Last year was a great campaign for us. We got to a place where we hadn’t been as a club for 16 or 18 years, but we weren’t happy or satisfied at all because we want more. They showed their hunger. I think we have the ability, we certainly have the quality - and now we have to prove it."
Gasperini: "It will be difficult to get into the top eight. To stay between ninth and 24th, we have to pick up points in every game. We start with a really tough test, but it is an opportunity to measure ourselves. We’ve been playing in Europe for several years now, it’s clear that continuity has allowed us to continue growing.
“[Arsenal] are a team I really like, they are very compact, organised, they are a good example of how to play football. The results speak for themselves. I don’t know [Arteta] personally, but as a coach he has all my respect. It’s a beautiful team to watch.”
Team news
Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori returned to training ahead of the game and have been included in the matchday squad that travelled to Italy, while Declan Rice has completed his Premier League suspension and is able to play for us domestically and in Europe.
Martin Odegaard will likely be out for the next few matches with ankle ligament damage, joining Mikel Merino (shoulder), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) on the sidelines.
A trio of Italian internationals will likely be unavailable for Gasperini. Former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scammacca and young defender Georgio Scalvini are out long-term with ACL injuries, while club captain Rafael Toloi is struggling with a muscle complaint.
Ex-Everton centre-back Ben Godfrey is also a doubt having missed the Fiorentina win with a lower back problem, but former Gunner Sead Kolasinac and Albania international Berat Djimsiti returned from injuries to line up in defence.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: 3-4-2-1 is Gasperini's most likely choice against us - the shape the 66-year-old used to defeat Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. Out of possession Atalanta almost always adopt a man-to-man marking approach, and they press with discipline and intent. They do not make it easy for opponents to play through the lines.
On the ball, their front three are encouraged to interchange positions, which makes them a fluid, entertaining side to watch. Both wing-backs stay high and wide, with a pair of defensive sitting midfielders holding the engine room together. Atalanta are a terrific counter-attacking side, with just one Serie A team producing more direct attacks last term.
Retegui’s [above] finishing and aerial power must be respected, and Belgian attacking midfielder Charles De Ketelaere is another opponent who needs to be shackled closely inside the final third. Their star turn though, is Lookman. The Nigerian is a clever dribbler with searing pace, and the ability to strike the ball cleanly with either foot. He will drift in off the left, looking to cause havoc whenever the hosts build an attack.
Gasperini doesn’t mind leaving his defenders 1v1, but longer passes or quality third-man runs can undo them. They have conceded a joint-high eight goals in their first four league matches, and it won’t have gone unnoticed that half of those concessions stemmed from set-pieces.
Facts and stats
Only Real Sociedad (4) kept more clean sheets in last season’s group stage than us (3), however we haven’t kept a clean sheet in our last 10 on the road in the competition since a 3-0 win at Olympiakos in December 2015.
Only Atletico Madrid (+6.16) overperformed their xG total by a higher figure than us in last season’s Champions League (+5.49 – 19 goals from an xG of 13.51).
Atalanta’s 23 Champions League matches have seen 3.6 goals per game, the second-most of any team to feature 20+ times in the competition, behind Viktoria Plzen (3.8 per game).
Bukayo Saka was involved in eight goals in nine Champions League games last term, the most by an Englishman in their debut season, breaking the record set by Lee Bowyer for Leeds United in 2000/01 (6 goals, 1 assist).
Raheem Sterling could become the first player in European Cup history to play for four different English teams, having previously played for Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. Atalanta is the side he has his most goal involvements against in the competition (5 – 4 goals, 1 assist), including a hat-trick in October 2019.
Gabriel Jesus scored in all four of his Champions League starts last season. In the competition’s history, only Filippo Inzaghi, Diego Costa, Neymar and Sebastien Haller have scored in each of their first five starts for a specific club.
The Brazilian has 20 goal involvements in his last 18 starts in the competition (15 goals, 5 assists), scoring and assisting in each of his last two (Sevilla and Lens).
Match officials
Clement Turpin heads an all-French officiating team. An experienced official, he has been on the FIFA list since 2010 and has taken charge of matches at the last two World Cups and three European Championships, as well as the 2022 Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
It will be the sixth time the PE teacher has refereed us, and he has proved to be a lucky omen. We have not lost any match he’s officiated, with the last of which being our 1-0 win against Porto back in March. That run also includes a win in Italy - a 2-0 success at AC Milan in 2018.
Referee: Clement Turpin
Assistants: Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages
Fourth official: Stephanie Frappart
VAR: Jerome Brisard
Assistant VAR: Willy Delajod
Recent trips to Italy
Italy has been a country we’ve enjoyed visiting on our European travels, with seven wins and five draws coming from our 18 previous matches there.
This is our first visit since April 2019 when we beat Napoli 1-0 to reach the Europa League semi-finals, courtesy of an Alexandre Lacazette free-kick. The season before, we triumphed in Milan when we beat AC 2-0 in the San Siro in the same competition.
However, when it comes to the Champions League, we have lost our last three games in the country, although this is our first game there since 2013. Those defeats came at Roma in 2009, AC Milan in 2012 and Napoli a year later.
Live coverage
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from 7.55pm UK time for live commentary of the game from the Gewiss Stadium, with Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke guiding you through the action.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live, wherever you are in the world.