Torino vs Atalanta

Torino and Atalanta are set to square off against each other at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino in their opening 2021/22 Serie A fixture.

After finishing the previous Serie A season as the lowest-ranked survivors, Torino brought in ex-Hellas Verona boss Ivan Juric in a desperate bid to challenge higher up the table this term. With fans back in attendance, ‘Il Toro’ will be hoping for a much better home campaign compared to 2020/21, when they had to wait until March 17 to register their first Serie A win at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino. Indeed, only relegated Benevento and Parma (2) had fewer home victories than Torino (3) last season, with ‘I Granata’ returning a disastrous -20 goal difference from such fixtures (GF:19, GA:39). A 1-0 away loss to Fiorentina in their 2020/21 curtain-raiser means Torino could lose back-to-back Serie A openers for the first time since 1995.

On the other hand, Atalanta strolled to their third consecutive top-four finish in Serie A last season, doing so by completing the domestic campaign as the most prolific side for the third year in a row. After netting 90+ goals in back-to-back Serie A seasons, ‘La Dea’ could be thinking of mounting more pressure on the league title this term, especially after retaining almost the entire squad in the summer. Delivering action from the onset, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men have won their season opener in the top-flight in three consecutive campaigns, scoring more goals (11) in such fixtures than any other Serie A side. Notably, Atalanta didn’t lose a single Serie A match that saw them break the deadlock in 2020/21, remarkably winning 85.19% of such contests (GP27 – W23, D4).