MILAN – The Nerazzurri travel to Atalanta on Saturday in Week 20 of Serie A 2015/16. We look at some statistics ahead of the match, with the help of our friends from Opta.
PAST MEETINGS
The sides will meet for the 110th time in the top flight. Inter’s record reads 60 victories, 27 draws and 22 defeats.
Atalanta have only lost more matches against Juventus (61) than they have against Inter in Serie A.
The Nerazzurri have won their last three against La Dea in the league, conceding just once in the process. Before that, the Bergamo outfit went half a dozen games without defeat in this fixture (three wins, three draws).
1-1 is the most common scoreline when these teams meet in the top flight. Nineteen games have ended 1-1, most recently in Bergamo in October 2013.
Indeed, three of the last five meetings between Inter and Atalanta in Bergamo have ended 1-1.
Only five of the 109 matches between the two Nerazzurri sides have ended goalless, most recently at San Siro in March 2012.
Atalanta have finished the last two meetings – and four of the last seven – down to ten men.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS IN BERGAMO
Inter also lead the way in terms of matches played at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, winning 22, drawing 19 and losing 13.
Inter have scored more goals (90) at Atalanta in Serie A than any other club.
The Milan outfit have found the net on their last 17 trips to Bergamo, recording six wins, eight draws and three losses in that time.
Atalanta have scored at least once in 10 of the last 11 meetings between the teams in Bergamo.
CURRENT FORM
Atalanta have lost their last four games in the league, conceding an average of two goals per match in that time. It’s 20 years since La Dea were beaten in five consecutive games in Serie A (January 1996).
After taking 13 points from a possible 15 at home at the start of the campaign, Edy Reja’s men have collected just one win from their last four games at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia (3-0 against Palermo), losing the other three.
Mancini’s side have lost three of their last half a dozen in the league (winning the other three), after being defeated just once in the first 13 weeks of the Serie A season (nine wins, three draws).
The defeat to Sassuolo was the first time in ten games that Inter had failed to score. The last time they went 180 minutes without finding the net in the league was a year ago.
No team has kept more clean sheets this season across Europe’s five major leagues than Inter (12).
The Nerazzurri have the best away record in the division. They have claimed 20 points from a possible 27 on their travels, only losing at Napoli (2-1).
GENERAL STATISTICS
Inter are the only team yet to concede a headed goal in Serie A this season.
No side, however, has scored fewer headed goals than Inter (one).
Only Lazio (387) have played more crosses than Atalanta (385) in Italy’s top flight.
Five of La Dea’s 20 goals have come via long-range shots from open play. However, Inter have conceded the fewest goals from distance in the division (one).
Roberto Mancini’s team are yet to find the net in the opening 15 minutes of matches, while only Bologna have conceded fewer than Atalanta (one) in the same period.
After Palermo and Torino (five), the Bergamo outfit are the league’s top scorers from corner kicks (four).
All of Inter’s goals have come courtesy of foreign players. Only Fiorentina can match that.
Inter are both the team who have dropped the fewest points from winning positions (two) and the side that have gained the fewest from losing positions (one).
Atalanta have conceded more penalties than any other side in Serie A this term. Just two of the six they have faced have been converted.
PLAYER FOCUS
Much of Atalanta’s penalty record is down to the exploits of Marco Sportiello. His three saves from four spot-kicks is a record across Europe’s five major leagues. Sportiello and Handanovic are the two keepers who have stopped the most penalties in Europe’s five major leagues over the last two seasons (2014/15 and 2015/16). They have both saved five.
Alejandro Gomez is set to make his 150th appearance in Serie A, while Juan Jesus could bring up a century of games in the top flight. El Papu has struck five goals this term, four of which have come at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.
Only Achraf Lazaar has played most crosses from open play (102) than Gomez. Franco Vazquez and Paul Pogba, meanwhile, are the only players to have dribbled past more opponents (51) than the Argentine this season.
The Nerazzurri bring out the best of German Denis. He has struck seven goals in Serie A against Inter, albeit none in his last four meetings. El Tanque hasn’t found the net in his last four league matches. Atalanta have picked up points on the last ten occasions he got on the scoresheet (six wins, four draws). This season they’ve won all three matches in which Denis has scored.
Mauro Icardi is one goal shy of 50 in Serie A from 105 matches thus far. The Argentine finished the first half of the season on eight goals, three of which have come on his last two away trips. Last year, when he finished joint-top scorer, he had struck double figures at the halfway stage. Icardi currently has a 35% chance conversion rate, a league high from scorers with at least 11 attempts.
Fredy Guarin has scored more times against Atalanta than against any other team in Serie A. His three goals have all come at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, including his only brace to date in Italy’s top flight.
Stevan Jovetic secured Inter’s first victory of the campaign in the reverse fixture with a goal in stoppage time. The Montenegrin has got on the scoresheet just once in his last 13 Serie A matches. Jovetic has fond memories of Bergamo. The Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia was the scene of his first goal in Serie A, for Fiorentina in April 2009.
Rodrigo Palacio has scored two and provided a further goal on his last three trips to Atalanta. El Trenza is yet to score in 13 appearances this term. He broke his duck after 14 matches in the last campaign.
Adem Ljajic had eight efforts on goal against Sassuolo without finding the net. Only Lorenzo Insigne (12 against Sampdoria) and Duvan Zapata (nine versus Palermo) have tried their luck more in a Serie A match without scoring. Ljajic scored two goals and laid on a further two for his team-mates in his games against Atalanta for Roma.
Danilo D’Ambrosio opened his account in Serie A in Torino’s 5-1 rout at Atalanta in September 2012. Despite making more than 40 appearances for Inter, he is yet to find the net for the Nerazzurri.
Only Matias Vecino and Bruno Fernandes have had more shots this season without scoring than Jasmin Kurtic (18, excluding saves).
La Dea’s new signing Alessandro Diamanti has met Inter ten times in Serie A, scoring just once for Bologna in September 2011.
COACHES
Edy Reja and Roberto Mancini will meet for the fifth time in Serie A. The coach from Friuli has beaten his Jesi counterpart just once, in a 1-0 win for Napoli over Inter in March 2008.
Reja has lost half of his 14 games against the Nerazzurri in Italy’s top flight. The other seven feature four wins (all at home with Lazio and Napoli) and three draws.
Roberto Mancini has never lost against Atalanta in Serie A. His record reads nine wins and three draws from a dozen fixtures.
REFEREE AND DISCIPLINE
Nicola Rizzoli has taken charge of 209 matches in Serie A in his career, nine of which have come this season. The official has already produced eight red cards this term, more than anyone else. Mr Rizzoli has officiated three matches between Atalanta and Inter in Serie A, all of which have come at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia. The games finished in two 1-1 draws and a 3-1 win for the Bergamo-based side. Mr Rizzoli has overseen 14 matches involving Atalanta in the top flight. La Dea’s record reads five wins, five draws and four losses.
Inter, meanwhile, have 28 previous meetings with the referee. The Milan outfit have won half of those encounters, drawing five and losing nine of the rest.
Only Napoli (242) have committed fewer fouls than Inter (244).
Atalanta have been caught offside just 27 times, at least five times fewer than any other team.
Atalanta had 10 players sent off in the first half of the season, a record across Europe’s five major leagues.
SUSPENDED:
Atalanta: n/a
Inter: Felipe Melo (1)
BANNED IF BOOKED:
Atalanta: Grassi, Cigarini
Inter: Kondogbia, Medel, Miranda
