Hapoel Tel Aviv now know exactly what stands between them and the Conference League's group stage: Atalanta, the Europa League winners of 2024, in a two-legged playoff that opens in Bergamo on Thursday, August 20, and is decided a week later, on August 27, at the DVTK Stadium in Miskolc, Hungary — the venue Hapoel are using for their home leg.

On paper it looks a daunting draw. But ONE reports that the Atalanta side Hapoel will actually meet is barely recognisable from the ruthless, attacking outfit that reached a Champions League quarter-final and lifted a European trophy over the past two seasons. Off the back of nearly a decade of stability under Gian Piero Gasperini, the club has been through a chaotic year.

Gasperini's successor, Ivan Jurić, lasted only a few months. Appointed in the summer, he won just four of his first 15 matches in charge and was sacked in November with Atalanta down in 13th place, days after a home defeat to Sassuolo — his third managerial exit inside a single year, following earlier spells at Roma and Southampton.

Raffaele Palladino, fresh off stints at Monza and Fiorentina, was brought in as his replacement and signed a contract through 2027. It did not last either: Palladino himself was axed months later as Atalanta continued to search for stability, clearing the way for a permanent appointment.

That appointment, confirmed in May, was Maurizio Sarri. The 67-year-old signed a three-year deal running to 2029, and the club paired him with a new sporting director, Cristiano Giuntoli, who previously worked alongside Sarri at Napoli and had most recently overseen recruitment at Juventus. Giuntoli's early business included signing Gianluca Gaetano from Cagliari to add creativity in midfield.

The tactical implications are significant. ONE notes that Sarri is dismantling Atalanta's decade-long identity built around a back three, switching instead to a classical 4-3-3 with full-backs and orthodox wingers — a genuine departure from the Gasperini blueprint that made the club one of Serie A's most distinctive teams.

The rebuild has coincided with upheaval in defence. Berat Djimsiti, the 33-year-old Albania captain who made 334 appearances across more than eight seasons in Bergamo, completed a move to Saudi Arabia's Al-Diriyah for around €3 million, confirmed officially on August 10 as he bid an emotional farewell to the club.

Sweden international Isak Hien, meanwhile, will not be available at all. He underwent surgery on a thigh injury sustained at this year's World Cup and is not expected back until October — meaning Sarri's new-look defence will face Hapoel without one of its senior centre-backs still bedding in a system it has never played before.

None of this makes Atalanta anything less than the clear favourites; a squad that reached the latter stages of the Champions League as recently as last season retains far more individual quality than Hapoel can call on. But a club mid-transition, with a rookie system, a rebuilt spine and a coach only three months into the job, is a different proposition to the well-drilled Gasperini machine of old.

Hapoel arrive with momentum of their own, having eliminated Poland's GKS Katowice 3-2 on aggregate to reach this stage. Two games against a name as big as Atalanta's would once have looked like a formality for the Italians; this year, ONE's reporting suggests, there is a genuine opening for the underdog to exploit.