Valencia CF will return to San Siro to look for the quarterfinals of the Champions League against an opponent who has given the surprise in the group stage, the Atalanta de Bergamo. The prowess of the team of Albert Celades to qualify as the first of group H has given him a rival that opens in the competition, but has demonstrated his ability to react by overcoming three consecutive defeats that moved him even away from the Europa League. Seven points in the last three days of the league allowed La Dea (the goddess in Italian) to follow the wake of Manchester Cit and leave on the way to Dinamo de Zagred and Shakhtar Donest .

Atalanta, since the arrival of Gian Piero Gasperini on the bench in 2016, has been perched on the noble posts of Calcio. With a football that La Gazzeta has defined as "white weapon", it has passed in two seasons from seventh to third place in the championship and to make history in Europe. His only title in the medal winners is the 1963 Italian Cup , which makes this Champions League qualifier historic. But Valencia does not trust.

"They are a very physical team with huge offensive potential . With two level strikers like Papu and Muriel. It is important to see how we get to those games," said Celades.

Never before have Valencia and Atalanta met in official tournament. The only precedent is the Orange Trophy of the 2017/18 campaign, a friendly that the Italians took in Marcelino's first project.

Valencia will return to San Siro, the stadium where it has never won. He left a Champions League final and played unforgettable crosses against Inter, which he never surpassed. Atalanta is a 'stateless person' in Europe. Its stadium, Atleti Azzurri d'Italia , did not meet UEFA regulations last season and, since it only has capacity for 16,000 spectators, the club wanted to play its first Champions League 60 kilometers from Bergamo. Without the capacity to gather more than 30,000 spectators in the group stage , filling the 80,000 seats of the Milanese stadium seems like a utopia ... unless it is with the collaboration of the Valencianists.

At the moment, the pairing celebrate it. "It's a great Christmas gift . Honestly, it was the ideal rival for us," President Antonio Percassi confessed.

The president of Valencia, Anil Murthy, chose to be more prudent, although of all possible rivals, he would also have chosen Atalanta, which can facilitate the presence in the quarterfinals and a good economic boat.

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