Atalanta vs Celtic facts

Atalanta are aiming to continue their solid start to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League as they take on a Celtic team who need to regroup after a bruising Matchday 2 defeat.

UEFA Europa League winners Atalanta drew 0-0 at home to Arsenal on Matchday 1 – Mateo Retegui having a second-half penalty saved – before a 3-0 win away to Shakhtar Donetsk; Celtic were 5-1 victors at home against debutants Slovan Bratislava on Matchday 1 but then went down 7-1 at Borussia Dortmund.

This is the first fixture between the teams, and Atalanta's first game against a Scottish club.

Form guide

Atalanta

Atalanta claimed only the club's second major silverware – and a first top-flight trophy since the 1962/63 Coppa Italia – in 2023/24, defeating German champions Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final in Dublin with Ademola Lookman scoring the first final hat-trick in the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

Gianpiero Gasperini's team had won their section ahead of Sporting CP, Sturm Graz and Raków Częstochowa, winning four of their six games and remaining unbeaten, before edging past Sporting again in the round of 16 (1-1 a, 2-1). They stunned Liverpool in the quarter-finals (3-0 a, 0-1 h) and then got the better of Marseille (1-1 a, 3-0 h) to set up that final triumph.

That means Atalanta are taking part in the Champions League proper for the fourth time – all since 2019 – in 2024/25.

The Serie A side have only one victory in their last eight home Champions League matches (D4 L3) – but won four of their six home Europa League matches in 2023/24 (D1 L1).

Atalanta were the ninth different Italian club to reach the UEFA Cup/Europa League showpiece and the first Italian team to win the competition in the Europa League era. The previous Italian champions were Parma in 1998/99.

Gasperini became the oldest coach to win the Europa League, aged 66 years 117 days.

The Bergamo club were fourth in Serie A last season, their fifth top-four finish in eight seasons. They ended on 69 points, 25 behind champions Inter.

Atalanta began the season with a 2-0 loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw on 14 August.

Celtic

Record vs Italian teams: W7 D8 L16 F28 A46
Away record vs Italian teams: W1 D3 L11

Celtic were paired with Italian opponents in last season's group stage, losing 2-1 at home and 2-0 away to Lazio.

That made it four successive defeats against Serie A sides, since they beat Lazio 2-1 in both Glasgow and Rome in the 2019/20 Europa League group stage.

Those are Celtic's only victories in their last 15 games against Italian clubs, a run that includes ten defeats.

The Hoops have lost five of their last six games in Italy, and ten of the last 12 (W1 D1).

Celtic are in the Champions League proper for the 13th time and the third season running.

The Bhoys were bottom of their section for the second season in a row in 2023/24, although they ended on a high with a 2-1 home win against Feyenoord – their first Champions League victory at Celtic Park since 2013.

Home and away, Celtic have now won four of their last 34 games in the Champions League proper (D6 L24).

Celtic have finished bottom of their section in four of their last five Champions League campaigns.

The Glasgow side have won only one of their last 12 European away games, losing ten.

The first British club to win the European Cup in 1967, and runners-up to Feyenoord three years later, Celtic have reached the Champions League knockout stages three times. All those campaigns ended in the round of 16, most recently in 2012/13 against Juventus (0-3 h, 0-2 a).

Celtic claimed their 54th Scottish League title, and a 12th in 13 seasons, in 2023/24. Brendan Rodgers' side also won the Scottish Cup for a record 42nd time.

Links and trivia

Rodgers coached Atalanta forward Lookman at Leicester in 2021/22.

Lookman's Leicester team-mates included Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Ben Godfrey and Adam Idah were both Norwich players in 2019/20.

International team-mates:
Charles De Ketelaere & Arne Engels (Belgium)

Latest news

Atalanta

On Sunday Mateo Retegui made it eight goals in eight Serie A games for Atalanta with the second in a 2-0 win at Venezia.

Retegui hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 win against Genoa on 5 October.

That took Gian Piero Gasperini to 900 career points in Serie A – only the fourth coach to reach the mark in the three points for a win era, after Massimiliano Allegri, Carlo Ancelotti and Luciano Spalletti.

Retegui was also on target in Italy's UEFA Nations League fixtures against Belgium (2-2) and Israel (4-1).

Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini have been ruled out until 2025 with knee ligament injuries.

Marco Brescianini (out since 28 September, thigh) and Odilon Kossounou (2 October, thigh) have also been sidelined.

Rafael Tolói has been absent with a muscle injury and Sead Kolašinac missed the weekend win due to flu.

Matteo Ruggeri (out since 28 September, knee) and half-time substitute Berat Djimsiti (2 October, thigh) both returned on Sunday.

Celtic

On Saturday Celtic's perfect start to the league season was ended by a 2-2 draw at home against Aberdeen in a game they had led 2-0.

The Hoops had won their first seven Scottish Premiership games this season, scoring 22 goals and only conceding their first in their seventh fixture, a 2-1 win at Ross County on 6 October.

Defeat at Dortmund on Matchday 2 ended Celtic's 15-game winning run in all competitions, stretching back to a 3-3 draw against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 20 April – a tie they won 6-5 on penalties.

Celtic had conceded only four goals in nine games in 2024/25 – scoring 33 – before shipping seven in Dortmund, as many goals as they had let in in their preceding 14 fixtures.

The Hoops have kept eight clean sheets in 15 matches stretching back to last season but only one in the last six.

Greg Taylor was replaced at half-time on Matchday 2 with a hamstring injury and has not played since.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has not played since going off on Matchday 1, has been sidelined by a foot problem.

Liam Scales scored his first international goal in the Republic of Ireland's 2-1 UEFA Nations League win in Finland on 10 October.

A day later, Paulo Bernardo was on target as Portugal won 3-1 away to the Faroe Islands in 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying.