Percassi: ‘Atalanta proud and have Champions League hope’ against Arsenal | OneFootball

Atalanta director Luca Percassi is ‘proud and satisfied’ to see the Gewiss Stadium finally completed to host Arsenal in the Champions League and remembers his surprise Chelsea debut.

It kicks off at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.

The club won its first ever European trophy with the Europa League in May, beating favourites Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the Dublin Final.

Now they are back in the Champions League and finally get to play in a full stadium, as the reconstruction work was completed last week, reopened for the 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Sunday.

Unexpected Percassi connection with Arsenal

“We are very happy, as finally we have a stadium completely restructured. It is a project that took a lot of work, but we are very proud and satisfied to see it finished,” Percassi told Sky Sport Italia.

Percassi was a player before becoming a director and made his debut for Chelsea against Arsenal under player-manager Gianluca Vialli.

“It was a fantastic night. I was very young, but it was a great opportunity to play in that stadium and I will always be grateful to Gianluca Vialli.”

The new format of the Champions League means that the top eight go straight into the Round of 16, the bottom eight are eliminated and the sides in the middle fight it out in play-offs.

“We hope to finish in that middle section, but we know how competitive the Champions League is and how many teams there are now.

“This evening we are up against one of the best teams in the world, with a young coach who has great ideas. It is going to be a very difficult match, as it should be at this level.”