Atalanta flew into Hungary on Wednesday for the second leg of a Conference League playoff tie that could not be tighter: 0-0 from the first meeting in Bergamo, with a place in the competition's league phase still entirely up for grabs against Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Kick-off on Thursday is at 20:00 local time at the DVTK Stadium in Miskolc, the Hungarian venue where Hapoel have been staging their home European fixtures for security reasons. Whoever survives the 90 minutes — or extra time and penalties, if needed — advances to the league phase; the loser's European season ends here.
Maurizio Sarri named 22 players for the trip, but his options are stretched. Honest Ahanor and Thomas Kristensen did not travel with the group after being restricted to individual work, while Isak Hien and Kamaldeen Sulemana remain unavailable and were left out of the squad altogether as both continue their recoveries.
The most eye-catching absence, though, belongs to a player who only just arrived. Eljif Elmas was unveiled as an Atalanta signing on loan from RB Leipzig on Tuesday, but he cannot feature in either leg against Hapoel because the club's UEFA squad list for this specific tie was locked before the first game in Bergamo and could not be amended for a new arrival.
"It's a shame I can't be part of the match against Hapoel Tel Aviv — I'll be cheering for my teammates," Elmas said, according to L'Eco di Bergamo, striking a supportive tone even as he watches Atalanta's biggest game of the season so far from outside the squad.
There was better news on Charles De Ketelaere, who returns to the group after missing recent action and is a genuine contender to start in attack having been a fixture in Sarri's plans for much of the year.
Italian media have been framing the tie as unusually significant for a club of Atalanta's stature, given the financial and prestige cost of an early continental exit at the hands of a side many assumed they would brush aside. Hapoel Tel Aviv, by contrast, arrive in Miskolc knowing a single positive result would send them into the league phase of a UEFA competition for the first time — a genuinely historic prospect for the club.
Hapoel reached this stage by eliminating Poland's GKS Katowice in the third qualifying round, and their goalless draw away to one of Serie A's most consistent European performers has only sharpened anticipation around Thursday's return leg.
With so much still to be decided and Sarri forced into selection compromises through injuries and eligibility rules alike, both clubs head into Miskolc aware that a single moment could decide who plays on in Europe this autumn.
