Champions League LIVE: Atalanta vs Arsenal and five other matches – score and text updates

Atalanta have never played Arsenal in any competition before. The Gunners are the fifth English team they will face in a major European competition, after Everton (2 wins), Man City (1 draw, 1 loss), Liverpool (2 wins, 2 losses) and Man Utd (1 draw, 1 loss).

Arsenal have lost their last three UEFA Champions League away games in Italy, although this is their first trip there since 2013. Those defeats came at Roma (0-1 in 2009), Milan (0-4 in 2012) and Napoli (0-2 in 2013).

In Atalanta's last four UEFA Champions League matches – all in the 2021–22 group stage – both they and their opponents scored two or more goals (D2 L2). In the entire history of the European Cup, no team has ever scored and conceded two or more goals in five consecutive matches.

Arsenal have won each of their opening games in the last six major European campaigns (five in the UEFA Europa League and last season's Champions League). The last team to beat the Gunners in their first game was Dinamo Zagreb in the 2015/16 Champions League.

The 2023/24 UEFA Europa League final – which his team won 3-0 – was Gian Piero Gasperini's 50th match as Atalanta coach in a major European competition (excluding qualifiers). Gasperini has won just under half of them (48%), with 24 victories in 50 matches (U14 L12).

Only Atlético Madrid (+6.16) exceeded their xG total by a higher margin than Arsenal (+5.49 – 19 goals from an xG of 13.51) in last season's UEFA Champions League. The Gunners also recorded the third-highest shot conversion rate in the competition last season (15.7%), behind only Manchester United (16.9%) and Atlético de Madrid (16.8%).

In Atalanta's 23 UEFA Champions League matches, they have scored 3.6 goals per game (40 for, 43 against), giving them the second-highest total of all teams to have participated in more than 20 competitions, behind Viktoria Plzen (3.8 per game).

Bukayo Saka was involved in eight goals in nine UEFA Champions League appearances for Arsenal in the 2023/24 season (4 goals, 4 assists), the most by an Englishman in their debut season at the club, surpassing the record set by Lee Bowyer for Leeds United in the 2000/01 season (6 goals, 1 assist).

Atalanta's Ademola Lookman scored five goals in his last three UEFA Europa League appearances last season, including a hat-trick in the final against Bayer Leverkusen. Lookman failed to score in his four appearances against Arsenal, while his only UEFA Champions League appearance came for RB Leipzig against Zenit in October 2019.

Raheem Sterling could make his UEFA Champions League debut for Arsenal in this match, becoming the first player in European history to play for four different English teams. He previously played for Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. The other four players to play for three different English teams are David Batty (Leeds, Blackburn, Newcastle), Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea), William Gallas (Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs) and Kolo Touré (Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool).