Atalanta vs Milan Preview

January 25, 2013 By Gregory Sica

The Rossoneri will be looking to continue to escalate in the Serie A when they travel to Bergamo to do battle with a struggling Atalanta.

After a bumpy start to the 2012-13 Serie A campaign, Milan have since shown great improvement and will be hoping to avenge their shock defeat to Atalanta at the beginning of the season with a victory at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo on Sunday.

Milan, who beat Bologna 2-1 in their latest league fixture last weekend, currently lie in sixth-position of the Serie A table, but the three points could see them jump above Fiorentina, and move within two points of arch-rivals Inter Milan.

The Rossoneri's chances to qualify for Europe next season still remain alive, but they will have to begin to beat teams like Atalanta, because if they fail to do so, the likes of Fiorentina, Inter, Lazio, Napoli and obviously league leaders Juventus would move far ahead of them.

Milan, who are hoping to capture former Brazilian midfielder Kaka from Real Madrid, can't afford to miss out on a place in Europe next season, as failure to do this would be a major setback for one of Europe's biggest clubs.

In order to claim a positive result against Atalanta, Milan will have to find a way to deal with the absences of several players, including Massimo Ambrosini, the Dutch duo of Nigel de Jong and Urby Emanuelson and aging Colombian defender Mario Yepes.

Massimiliano Allegri is also expected to make some changes, with Ignazio Abate likely to make way for Mattia De Sciglio and Daniele Bonera for Philippe Mexes. Another change could see Antonio Nocerino come in for Mathieu Flamini.

Meanwhile, Atalanta boss Stefano Colantuono will be unable to count with the services of Daniele Capelli, Guido Marilungo, Luigi Giorgi and inspirational captain Gianpaolo Bellini.