Atalanta vs. Ajax 10/27/20 UEFA Champions League Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Atalanta is hosting Ajax at Gewiss Stadium in round 2 in the UEFA Champions League.

Atalanta has been doing well so far this season, but they have lost their last 2 games in Serie A while conceding 7 goals and scoring only 2 goals. Atalanta is in 6th place in the standings with 9 points, 15 scored goals, and 12 conceded goals in 5 games. The Champions League started well for Atalanta, and they were playing Midtjylland in their first game last week. Atalanta was the better team in that match with 53% of ball possession, 10 shots on goal, 5 corner kicks, 6 big chances created, and a decent 82% of the correct passes. With 3 scored goals in the first half and 1 more scored goal in the second half, Atalanta has won that match 0-4. Zapata, Gomez, Muriel, and Miranchuk have each scored 1 goal for Atalanta in the Champions League, while Romero, Zapata, and Ilicic have each added 1 assist. Caldara, Gollini, Carnesecchi, and Tumminello are all injured, and they will miss this match. Atalanta has reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League last season, and they certainly have the quality and the game to do it again, the only question is if they have the depth to do it. I think Atlanta will need to make a choice, Serie A or the Champions League.

Ajax has lost their first Champions League game, but they have recovered from that loss by demolishing Venlo in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. Ajax has won this match 0-13, on the road I might add, and they broke all kinds of records in this match. I can’t imagine how Venlo’s players are feeling after this disaster, but I know that Ajax is filled with confidence. In their first Champions League game, Ajax was hosting Liverpool, and they were solid in that game with 48% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 3 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 75% of the correct passes. Ajax has lost this match by an own goal in the 35th minute. The final result was 0-1. Timber and Kudus are the only 2 injured players for Ajax at this time. For many years Ajax has been known as the club that is producing a lot of young and talented players, and that hasn’t changed, but Ajax is now a good combination of youth and experience with Tadic, Huntelaar, Promes, and Klaassen in their roster. Ajax is playing attractive soccer, and as we saw this past weekend, they can score a ton of goals.

This is the first time Atalanta and Ajax are meeting, and it will be one of the best games this weekend. Both Atalanta and Ajax are great offensive teams, and they are scoring a ton of goals. I don’t expect to see a lot of defense here, and for that reason, I will pick something on goals here, which we could see a lot in this game.