Matteo Pessina was born in Monza on 21 April 1997 and started his footballing journey with his hometown club. He made his Serie A debut with Atalanta on 28 August 2018, but not before spells in the lower divisions with Monza, Lecce, Catania, Como and Spezia.

The attacking midfielder spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Verona before he returned to Atalanta for the following campaign, in which he really burst onto the scene, earning himself his first cap for Italy and a berth in Mancini's final squad for EURO 2020.

He played age-group football for Italy at U19, U20 and U21 levels and made his full international debut on 11 November 2020 in a friendly against Estonia. He bagged his first goal for his country in a 7-0 friendly win over San Marino on 28 May 2021.

To date, he has made twelve appearances for the Azzurri and scored four goals, two of which came at EURO 2020.