Our prediction for this Serie A match:
Atalanta
Match Time & Date:
20/11/2021
16:00
Prediction: 3-1
Spezia
Saturday’s football game at Gewiss Stadium pits together Atalanta and Spezia, the two teams with entirely different ambitions in the 2021/2022 Serie A season. The Orobici are eyeing yet another participation in the Champions League, while Spezia’s main goal is to avoid relegation to Serie B. All Gosens, Hateboer, and Lovato are out of contention with injuries, but there are no suspended players in the home team.
Slovenia international Josip Ilicic is pushing for a start after coming as a substitute in the 2-1 win over Cagliari before the international break. The Bianconeri, on the other hand, aim to build on a hard-fought 1-0 win over Torino. Spezia, though, are not regarded as good travelers, and they are unlikely to spoil Atalanta’s party at Gewiss Stadium. Nikolaou is banned for the match, while all Leo’ Sena, Agudelo, and Bourabia miss out with injuries.
Highlighted Player (Duvan Zapata):
Duvan Zapata was born in Cali, Colombia on 1 April, 1991. The 186-cm-tall attacker started his youth career at America de Cali, playing for the club between 2004 and 2008. In 2008 he made his debut for the first team and three years later he scored his first hat-trick for the Colombian outfit, in a 3-2 win over Deportivo Pereira.
In 2011 he signed a loan deal with Estudiantes and he found the net for the Argentine team on his debut against Belgrano. After scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances for Estudiantes, the Colombian striker joined Napoli in 2013, but he failed to establish himself as a first-choice attacker.
On 22 July, 2015 Zapata joined fellow Serie A team Udinese on loan and it has to be noted that he scored eight goals in 24 league appearances for the Zebrette. Duvan Zapata has 5 caps for Colombia U20 team, but he has yet to make his debut for the senior side.
Highlighted Team (Spezia):
Spezia is a professional Italian club based in Spezia, Liguria. The Bianconeri secured promotion to the Serie A in the 2019/20 season, with the team beating Frosinone in the Serie B playoffs final. Spezia are well known for their black and white home jerseys, and black is the dominant colour of their away kit.
The club’s home ground Stadio Alberto Picco has the capacity of 10,336 people. The venue was opened back in 1919, with architect Gregotti being in charge of the project. In 2002 the club chiefs decided to reach an agreement with Inter which saw Spezia become Inter’s feeder club.
As a result, the likes of Goran Pandev, Aco Stojkov, and Alex Cordaz joined the Bianconeri in the first season. Spezia then suffered a bankruptcy, but in 2008 they were re-founded. In the 2020/21 season the Bianconeri will compete in the Italian elite division for the first time ever.
