Conference League line-ups: Atalanta vs. Pafos
BERGAMO, ITALY - JANUARY 21: Gianluca Scamacca of Atalanta scores his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Atalanta BC and Athletic Club at Stadio di Bergamo on January 21, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Atalanta have an all-attack approach to their Conference League opener with David Luiz’s Pafos, starting Gianluca Scamacca, Giacomo Raspadori and Eljif Elmas together.
It kicks off at the New Balance Arena at 20.00 UK time (21.00 CEST).
La Dea went through the preliminary round with Hapoel Tel Aviv and had stuttered in Serie A with three consecutive defeats, but ended that run with a 3-1 victory over Venezia on Monday, despite the late Elmas red card.
Maurizio Sarri made tactical changes for that match, moving from his traditional 4-3-3 to more of a 4-2-3-1 formation, and sticks with that approach here.
It’s an injury crisis largely in defence, though, ruling out Giorgio Scalvini, Isak Hien, Raoul Bellanova, Odilon Kossounou, Franck Kessie and Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Thomas Kristensen and Sead Kolasinac therefore start, with Mario Pasalic and Gianluca Gaetano forced to do extra work protecting the defence.
They throw everything forward with Elmas, Raspadori and Nicola Zalewski fanning out behind centre-forward Scamacca.
Pafos had originally been in the preliminary rounds for the Europa League, but were eliminated by RB Salzburg and went into the Conference League instead.
The Cypriot side boasts former Chelsea defender David Luiz, who will reunite on the touchline with his old Stamford Bridge boss Sarri.
There are injuries affecting Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu, David Goldar, Jay Gorter, Charalampos Kryiakidis and Jajá.
Nikolas Ioannou played for both Como and Sampdoria, so is no stranger to Italian football.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi; Zappacosta, Kristensen, Kolasinac, Bernasconi; Pasalic, Gaetano; Elmas, Raspadori, Zalewski; Scamacca
Pafos: Majecki; Bruno, S Mmaee, David Luiz, N Ioannou; Pepe, Sunjic; Dragomir, Quina, Lelé; Biel
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.