23 October 2015
Juventus enter Sunday’s match hoping to add to their tally of 60 wins in their previous 106 top-flight meetings with Atalanta.
The very first match in Turin would see the hosts romp to a 5-0 success, while in 1951 a star-studded team spearheaded by Giampiero Boniperti recorded the Old Lady’s greatest ever margin of victory of 7-1 against the Nerazzurri.
This weekend, however, Edy Reja’s men enter this fixture with a greater points total than the Bianconeri for only the fifth time in Serie A history.
The first of these four encounters fell on 1 April 1956, the only occasion in which Atalanta would lead the Old Lady in the table beyond the month of October. Although Sandro Puppo’s men were unable to claim victory, they would ultimately finish two points above the Bergamo-based outfit by the end of the campaign.
The second time that the Nerazzurri found themselves in front in the table, they would claim one of their 11 league victories against Juventus, triumphing 3-1 at home in September 1961. John Charles’ strike for the visitors would prove to be a mere consolation.
Ferruccio Valcareggi’s Atalanta headed into Matchday Five of the 1964/65 season as league-leaders with a two point advantage over the Bianconeri. That afternoon, however, neither team could break the deadlock in a goalless stalemate. The campaign would eventually see the Turin outfit finish fourth, while Valcareggi’s charges slid to 13th place.
The fourth and final instance of Juventus entering this fixture with a lower points count coincided with Moreno Torricelli’s Serie A debut in the black and white on 13 September 1992.
With Roberto Baggio and Gianluca Vialli leading the line, the Old Lady were runaway winners, putting four goals past their opponents at the Stadio delle Alpi, Andreas Moller netting twice. Maurizio Ganz notched Atalanta’s solitary strike of the day.
In recent times, the Nerazzurri have often entered matches against the Bianconeri in a healthy position in the table.
In Juve’s 3-0 win in December 2012, Stefano Colantuono pitted his wits against Antonio Conte with his charges sitting pretty in the top half of Serie A.
Meanwhile, last year Massimiliano Allegri’s men travelled to Bergamo to take on an 11th placed Atalanta, who they would beat 3-0 courtesy of a Carlos Tevez brace and Alvaro Morata’s first ever goal for his new club.
For the Spaniard, Sunday’s match represents an opportunity to score against the same outfit just two days after his 23rd birthday.
