ATALANTA will make for “really demanding opponents” this weekend, believes Cherries boss Andoni Iraola.

Cherries welcome the Serie A outfit to Vitality Stadium for their penultimate pre-season friendly, with Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta side preparing for a campaign that includes playing in the UEFA Europa League.

Renowned in Italy for their distinctive attacking football, Iraola believes the well-polished machine Giasperini has created with be a stern test for Cherries.

Iraola explains why upcoming friendlies may be ‘not so useful’ as past games

He started: “For us, it's going to be a really demanding game.

“I think they are a team that they have a very particular way of playing, that they know it very well, very good coach who has developed the team, and they will be very difficult team to beat because their system is very particular.

“They know it perfectly. All the players are physically ready for the way they want to play.

“So it's going to be tough for us.”

However, the former Rayo Vallecano boss believes that can only be a good thing for Cherries.

He continued: “But it's very good thing in pre-season when you have to face very good players who know the system, who are already a very well-organized team, is going to be good for us.”

“I think they are tactically very good. And also with Gasperini, they've been playing the same way for a lot of years.

“They've been very successful in Europe, they will play Europe this season.

“They've played Europa League, champions League been really a very good team, a very attractive team to play.

“I think it's going to be demanding for us because they go in a lot of man marking, a lot of one against one situations.

“They attack with a lot of players.

“So I think it physically will be very good pre-season game because the players will suffer out there. And it's what you want to improve their limits and to test ourselves, probably.

“Tactically, I don't see a lot of English teams playing the way Atalanta plays. So it's not going to be tactical preparation for the Premier League.

“But individually for the players, I think it's a very good game.”