#atalanta

#atalanta

Atalanta's teenage centre-back Honest Ahanor has rapidly emerged as one of the most coveted young defenders in European football, following an impressive start to life in Bergamo after his summer move from Genoa. Still only 17, Ahanor has defied expectations with a level of maturity and authority that belies his age, drawing widespread admiration. Chelsea are widely regarded as one of the most aggressive suitors, with reports suggesting the Blues could be prepared to test Atalanta's resolve with a bid in the region of 60 million,

Atalanta's latest gift to the football world, Marco Palestra, has emerged as the primary target for Europe's elite clubs heading into the winter transfer window. The 20-year-old starlet, a product of the Bergamo youth academy currently excelling on loan at Cagliari, is proving to be much more than a standard right-back. Combining high tactical intelligence with physical dominance, he is taking the market by storm.

Securing a famous bronze medal finish among Germany's elite last season, Dino Toppmoller's camp have secured back-to-back Bundesliga victories for the first time since the end of August. Last seen over the weekend marking their return from November's international break with an action-packed 4-3 victory away at Koln, Frankfurt could be smelling the chance to get their European charge back on track.

Starting with the hosts, managing to make a much-welcomed return to winning ways over the weekend as they clinched a 1-0 victory away at Auxerre, Marseille are now hoping to find some crucial stability. Last seen in Champions League action falling to a disappointing 2-1 loss away at Portuguese heavyweights Sporting Lisbon, Roberto De Zerbi's men will be excited to make a return to home soil here.

They have the third-best defence in the league, but their six draws in eight games shows that they are not scoring enough to win games regularly. Juric must understand why the team creates so much, shoots a lot but in six out of eight games has never scored more than one goal (and once zero). Understanding and remedying this is his big task at the moment.

Starting with the hosts, while Atalanta might have got a new era underway over the summer following Ivan Juric's arrival in Bergamo, La Dea have enjoyed a bright start to life under the former Southampton boss. Putting a maiden Champions League victory on the board in midweek as they clinched a 2-1 win at home against Club Brugge, last season's bronze medalists have suffered just a single defeat from any of their first seven appearances across all competitions.

Lazar Samardzic and Mario Pasalic were on target as Atalanta produced a late comeback to beat Club Brugge 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday. Christos Tzolis' well-executed opener had the visitors ahead by the break at New Balance Arena but Brugge were denied making it two wins from two in the league phase as the hosts fought back to rebound from a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.