Juventus, Atalanta and Inter Make Champions League Statement, but Milan and Bologna Pay the Price for Missed Chances

Ahead of AC Milan’s trip to Leverkusen, Paulo Fonseca highlighted where his side differs from Atalanta.

“Atalanta play defend man-to-man all over the park,” he said.

“That’s not our style. We always want to have the ball and attack.”

Atalanta, however, saw plenty of the ball as they swatted Shakhtar Donetsk away 3-0 to seal their first win in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

After a slow start to the season, La Dea were at their rampaging best in at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen. Berat Djimsiti opened the scoring, before Ademola Lookman added a second on the stroke of half-time and Raoul Bellanova completed the rout three minutes into the second half.

If anything, the scoreline flattered Shakthar as Atalanta had 22 shots and should have arguably scored more. But if profligacy in front of goal needs to be addressed, Gian Piero Gasperini will be delighted with his side’s defensive resilience as Atalanta have kept two clean sheets in their first two Champions League fixtures and sit 11th in the league table.

A clean sheet is something Fonseca and Milan could do with. The Portuguese had asked for a perfect defensive performance in Leverkusen, but his side got nowhere near it for the first 50 minutes as the Bundesliga champions dominated proceedings and only a string of fine saves from Mike Maignan kept them at bay.

When Leverkusen’s opener came, it was comical. The Rossoneri defence initially played Victor Boniface offside, but then seemingly forgot about him as the move continued and allowed the Nigerian the most comfortable of tap-ins.

To their credit, Milan responded and Alvaro Morata, Theo Hernandez and Youssouf Fofana all went close in the second half, when the Rossoneri were arguably denied a clear penalty as Ruben Loftus-Cheek was fouled in the box.

Fonseca chose to see the glass half full and described the performance as the best Milan have produced under him, glowing praise coming just 10 days after the win against Inter Milan in the Derby della Madonnina.

Encouraging as the second half display may have been, Milan have now lost both of their opening fixtures in the Champions League and have conceded an astounding 20 shots on goal over the two matches.

Wins against Inter and Lecce gave Fonseca some much-needed breathing room, but the optimism surrounding Milan still feels fragile and could be dented further in Florence on Sunday night.

If Milan’s mini-revival appears built on quicksand, Juventus’ transformation under Thiago Motta has far more solid foundations.

The Bianconeri’s 3-2 win away against RB Leipzig was arguably their best performance of the season.

A goal down and a man down following Michele Di Gregorio’s red card on the hour mark, Juventus drew level through Dusan Vlahovic’s second goal of the night, before summer signing Francisco Conceicao sealed a precious win.

Nicolo Fagioli and Teemu Koopmeiners shone in midfield, while Motta’s decision to shift Weston McKennie to left-back after Di Gregorio’s red card paid off.

“We knew we could beat them, but we lacked a bit of belief in the final third during the first half. In the second half, though, we really showed what we were capable of,” Motta said.

The only sour notes on an otherwise superb night for the Old Lady were the injuries to Nico Gonzalez and Gleison Bremer, with the latter now confirmed to have suffered a cruciate and meniscus tear, which will likely keep him out of action for the remainder of the campaign.

It speaks volumes for Motta’s tactical approach that Juventus barely skipped a beat despite their forced withdrawal and Di Gregorio’s red card.

The Bianconeri were brave on the ball and stuck to their plan meticulously. This, plainly, was not Max Allegri’s Juventus, but Motta insisted it was his players who deserved all the credit.

“It wasn’t me who was brave, it was my players,” he said.

“Right from the start, they were really up for it and believed they could take it to the other team.”

With six points after two matches, Juventus’ return to the Champions League could have hardly started better and a home fixture against Cagliari on Sunday represents the perfect chance to head into the international break on a high, and potentially top of the table should Napoli slip up against Como on Friday night.

Like Milan, Bologna are still waiting for their first win in the Champions League this season after losing 2-0 against Liverpool.

Vincenzo Italiano had urged his side not to be intimidated by the atmosphere at Anfield and to ensure they left the ground with their heads held high. Despite the result, his players did just that.

Summer signing Thijs Dallinga’s opener was ruled out for offside and Bologna hit the bar and the post, before Mohamed Salah put the game out of reach.

“I’m proud of the performance,” Italiano said.

“I don’t think Liverpool expected Bologna to be so brave.”

Sunday’s Derby dell’Emilia against Parma will tell whether Bologna have finally found their feet under Italiano after a difficult start to the season or whether the performance at Anfield was a brilliant aberration.

Inter are also still in the process of figuring themselves out this season and their 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday night will go some way towards helping them.

Like Atalanta, the Nerazzurri are yet to concede in Europe this season and have four points on the board after two rounds, as solid a return as Simone Inzaghi could have hoped for.

Routine as the win over Red Star was, there were plenty of positives for the reigning Serie A champions, chief among them Lautaro Martinez’s third goal in the past two matches.

The Argentine’s brace against Udinese on Saturday were his first Serie A goals since March and his goalscoring drought was becoming a major issue for Inter this season.

With their captain back among the goals, the Nerazzurri can now look at keeping pace with Napoli and Juventus when they host Torino on Saturday night.