Palladino demands perfection from Atalanta ahead of Chelsea test

Atlanta boss Raffaele Palladino believes only a perfect performance from his team will be enough to get the better of Chelsea in their Champions League clash. 

Enzo Maresca's team are the visitors to New Balance Arena on Tuesday, and they take on an Atalanta side who are beginning to find their feet under their new coach. 

Palladino replaced Ivan Juric after the former Southampton boss was sacked following a poor string of results.

The Italian has won three of his five games across all competitions, though Atalanta were beaten for the second time during his tenure against Verona at the weekend. 

And Palladino is now relishing the chance of managing his first European game in front of a home crowd, but urged his team to deliver a response after their latest Serie A defeat.

"We have to begin again after a bad performance," Palladino told reporters on Monday. "I spoke to the lads, who were very disappointed over how that game went.

"We don't want to repeat this kind of game, and this is an opportunity to prove ourselves against Chelsea, fighting for every ball.

"I have a group of great men, and they want to make up for what happened in Verona.

"These things must never happen again, and we've got to give our all against both Chelsea and Cagliari. I want to see the perfect performance."

Atalanta's first game under Palladino in the competition saw them sweep Eintracht Frankfurt aside 3-0. 

They are 10th in the 36-team standings and level on 10 points with Chelsea, who are three places above them in the table due to their superior goal difference. 

Atalanta and Chelsea will meet for the first time in European competition, while the Italian side have only won one of their previous seven games against English teams in the Champions League (D3 L3).

They have, however, kept eight clean sheets in their 15 Champions League games since the start of last season. Among teams to have played in both campaigns, only Inter (55% - 11/20) have a higher clean sheet rate than Atalanta (53%).

Palladino is keen to keep that momentum rolling. 

"We want to reach a point where we have that intensity in all the competitions. In order to reach big objectives, we need everyone to step up and give their contribution," he said. 

"I need to spend more time with the lads, we've got to battle on every pitch. This team has to refuel its enthusiasm after some disappointing months."

Chelsea come into this game off the back of a goalless draw with Bournemouth, which followed a disappointing 3-1 defeat away to Leeds United. 

But in their last European outing, the Blues stunned Barcelona 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. 

"I want a perfect performance," continued Palladino. "Facing strong opponents helps you to understand certain things. We have to take it one game at a time.

"I expect a very strong Chelsea with great individual talents. I studied them when I spent time in England, but obviously, in a match situation is a whole different matter.

"I am happy for Maresca and all he is doing, seeing as we've been friends since our time together at Juventus."