Atalanta hosted German giants Bayern Munich in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Champions League tie today. This was a chance for Atalanta to snap some poor form to build a lead before heading to Munich next week. However, the opposite would happen for Atalanta.

They would have a horror start to the game being dominated by Bayern Munich. It took the German side only 12 minutes to score off a short corner which saw Josip Stanisic find the back of the net. Bayern wouldn’t be satisfied with one goal however as they kept on pushing.

Michael Olise scored only ten minutes after Stanisic curling in a beautiful shot from the edge of the box. Serge Gnabry would score one on one only three minutes later to give Bayern a three goal lead before half an hour. Bayern Munich would keep the same goalscoring form up in the second half of the match.

It took Nicolas Jackson until only the 51st minute to find Bayern’s fourth. This was after a strong counter attack saw the ball fall to him inside the box for an easy bottom corner finish. It would take Bayern only 12 minutes after Jackson scored to find their fifth. This time it came from Michael Olise again scoring a similar goal to his first.

Jamal Musiala then came scoring Bayerns sixth only so minutes on the pitch after a cross from Nicolas Jackson. However, it wasn’t all bad for Atalanta as they did manage to get one goal back late. Mario Palasic scored in the 92nd minute for Atalanta giving them one goal back on Bayern’s lead. This will see them face a five-goal deficit when they travel to Munich next week.

Atalanta are set to play the first leg of their round of 16, Champions League clash. This comes after they managed to make it past the Round of 32, against Dortmund, with a 4-1 win at home. The tie was won late with a 90+8 penalty being the only thing separating the two sides.

Atalanta have now won the rights to face Dortmund biggest rivals, Bayern Munich. Bayern sit first of the Bundesliga being, 11 points clear of second place Dortmund. They have also won 7 games in a row before today’s game, including a 3-2 win over rivals Dortmund.

Meanwhile, Atalanta have had up and down league form this season. Atalanta have not won since their win over Dortmund, with two draws and a loss. They will look to turn their form around today, against Bayern however it won’t be easy. The home ground advantage will be big in Bergamo, as they hope to build a lead before the second leg in Munich.

Predicted Lineups via Gazzetta Dello Sport

Atalanta: 3-4-2-1

Marco Carnesecchi

Sead Kolasinac, Isak Hien, Berat Djimsiti

Lorenzo Bernasconi, Mario Pasalic, Marten De Roon, Davide Zappacosta

Nicola Zalewski, Lazar Samardzic

Gianluca Scamacca

Atalanta will make four changes from their two-two draw against Udinese at the weekend. In defence Odilon Kossonou will be replaced by Berat Djimsiti on the right side of the defence. Palladino will go for experience in midfield with Marten De Roon and Davide Zappacosta replacing Yunus Musah and Raoul Bellanova. Kamaldeen Sulemana will also be dropped to the bench after a poor game for Nicola Zalewski.

Bayern Munich: 4-2-3-1

Jonas Urbig

Konrad Laimer, Jonathan Tah, Dayot Upamecano, Josip Stanisic

Aleksandar Pavlovic, Joshua Kimmich

Luis Diaz, Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise

Harry Kane

Bayern Munich will make heavy changes from their win against Gladbach on the weekend. In defence Jonathan Tah and Josip Stanisic come in for Min-Jae Kim and Tom Bischof. Aleksandar Pavlovic will allow Leon Goretzka some rest in the holding positions. Michael Olise and Serge Gnabry join the attack replacing Lennart Karl and Jamal Musiala. While Harry Kane reclaims his starting spot from Nicolas Jackson for the first leg of the tie.

The two Milan sides faced off today for the second Derby della Madonnina of the season. Inter Milan looked to write the wrongs of their loss earlier in the season. They started off on the right on foot to do so dominating most of the early game.

AC Milan would be able to create half chances but Inter dominated most of the half. This culminated in the 33rd minute where Henrik Mkhitaryan would break through Milan’s defence to be one-on-one with Mike Maignan.

But, Mkhitaryan put his shot to central making it an easy save for Maignan. This would be a wake up call for Milan who would then go on to score two minutes later.Youssouf Fofana would then find Pervis Estupinan with a through ball on the counter attack who would then smash in top left to give the Rossoneri the lead.

AC Milan would then manage to dominate the rest of the first half. They had more strong chances but wouldn’t be able to find a goal to double their lead. Inter  would go into their breaks a bit lost with how they let the game get away from them.

However, Inter came out for the second half on the front foot looking to equalise. Their best chance came in the 53rd minute by Federico Dimarco, but he would be unable to capitalize sending his shot over the bar. Inter Milan would keep on pushing for an equaliser but, they would be unable to score losing 1-0.

Player Ratings

AC Milan

AC Milans man of the match – Alexis Saelemaekers (8): Alexis Saelemaekers was my man of the match for Milan today, as he was key in the transition for the side. He was key for Milan running for all ninety minutes working hard on both sides of the ball to secure all three points.

Mike Maignan (7), Fikayo Tomori (6.5), Koni De Winter (6), Strahinja Pavlovic (7.5), Youssouf Fofana (7), Luka Modric (7.5), Adrien Rabiot (6.5), Pervis Estupinan (7), Rafael Leao (6.5), Christian Pulisic (7)

Inter Milan

Inter Milans man of the match (7.5) – Federico Dimarco took on Alexis Saelemaekers on the left hand channel on the pitch for Inter. While Saelemaekers probably got the best of Dimarco as he was forced to do defensive work. However, Dimarco still had a high attacking input for Inter today, while dealing with added defensive duties.

Yann Sommer (6), Yann Aurel Bisseck (5.5), Manuel Akanji (6), Alessandro Batoni (6.5), Luis Henrique (6), Nicolo Barella (6), Pitor Zielinski (5.5), Henrik Mkhitaryan (7), Ange Yoan Bonny (5.5), Pio Esposito (6.5)