Atalanta head coach Maurizio Sarri has said he expects a difficult match against Almaty's Kairat in the Conference League. The Italian specialist noted the level of the Kazakh club's players and recalled their meetings with Inter and Arsenal last year. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

"It will be a tough match. We need to move away from clichés. This is a team that over the last 11 months played at San Siro, losing 1-2 to Inter, and played in London against Arsenal, losing 2-3. That means they definitely have good quality. The individual level of the players is very high," Sarri said in an interview with the club's press service.

At the same time, Sarri admitted that his staff has little information about Almaty's current form due to the recent change of head coach.

"As for team actions, we know little because a week ago they changed their head coach, and with the new coach they have played only one game, so there is little information so far."

Rafael Urazbakhtin left his post as Kairat head coach at the end of October. Zhora Harutyunyan was appointed acting head coach, under whom the team played its final Kazakhstan championship match against Altai – 1-1. The Almaty side finished the KPL season in second place.

Sarri also spoke about the condition of his team. According to him, several players need recovery after a large number of matches, so the coaching staff will make final decisions on the lineup on the day of the game.

The Italian noted that a closed training camp before the meeting with Kairat should help the team unite and sort out problems after recent results.

"This moment was really necessary. We need to take stock of this difficult period, a complicated moment, and try to unite all the components of our team," the specialist concluded.

Atalanta's last match before facing Kairat was on November 2 in Serie A, where they lost at home to Parma – 0-3. Before that, the Bergamaschi drew with Fiorentina – 2-2 and Frosinone – 4-4, and also lost to Milan – 2-3.

In the Conference League, Atalanta has three points after two rounds: they beat Pafos at home – 3-1 and lost to Ajax – 0-2. Kairat has one point after a 1-1 draw with Riga and a 1-5 defeat to Panathinaikos.

The third-round match of the Conference League league phase, Atalanta – Kairat, will take place on November 5 in Bergamo. Kick-off is at 22:45 Kazakhstan time.