UEFA has imposed the advance to Tuesday but there is a problem linked to the DEA match against Bologna. Negotiations underway for a further move
The advance of the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 match imposed by UEFA has clogged up Atalanta’s calendar and complicated the work of the League which is preparing the advances and postponements of Serie A for the next few days. Just take a look at the calendar to understand: Milan-Atalanta will be played on Sunday, Inter-Atalanta will be the recovery game on Wednesday, Atalanta-Bologna is scheduled for Sunday 3 March, while UEFA has set Sporting-Atalanta for Tuesday 5th. Why Tuesday 5th and not Thursday 7th like all Europa League matches? Because on the same day in Lisbon there is Benfica-Rangers and, according to UEFA regulations, two matches cannot be played on the same day, in the same city, even if in two different stadiums. Atalanta would thus be the ones to pay the price as they would have to bring forward the match against Bologna to Saturday 2 March, effectively playing every 72 hours. Hence the negotiation with UEFA to obtain a new postponement of Sporting-Atalanta, to Wednesday 6th. Thus between Inter-Atalanta and Atalanta-Bologna Gasperini will have 4 days of rest. It is this hypothesis that we are working on. But clearly the approval of UEFA and the Lisbon authorities is needed.