Gian Piero Gasperini and His Magnificent Atalanta

Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy. The club is nicknamed La Dea, the Nerazzurri and the Orobici. Founded in 1907 by Swiss students in the gym of the liceo classico, Atalanta play in blueand-black vertically striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. Atalanta joined the Italian league in 1929. However the club has never won Scudetto so far. The biggest success of Atalanta in domestic competitions came in 1963, when they won Coppa Italia. The club reached the Cup Winners’ Cup semifinal in 1988, when they were competing in Serie B. This is still the best ever performance by a non-first division club in a major UEFA competition together with Cardiff City. Atalanta also participated in four seasons of the UEFA Europa League, reaching the quarter-finals in the 1990/91 season. The club began to experience its greatest days after the appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as head coach. At the beginning of 2016/17 season, Gian Piero Gasperini was appointed as a manager of Atalanta. Atalanta stuttered at the beginning of the season and new coach was on the verge of dismissal. However with an amazing

run of positive results, the team secured an impressive 4th-place finish with 72 points. With that result, Atalanta qualified for 2017/18 Europa League and reached the round of 32. In this round they lost to Borussia Dortmund on aggregate. In 2017/18, Atalanta placed 7th in the Serie A, earning them a berth for the chance to qualify for 2018/19 UEFA Europa League group stage. However, they were defeated by Danish side FC Copenhagen in the final of qualification. In 2018/19, Atalanta struggled at the beginning of the season, getting only one win in their first 8 matches. A strong second half to the season including a 13 match unbeaten run to end the season meant Atalanta finished third in the league, qualifying to the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. Atalanta also made the finals of the 2018/19 Coppa

Italia, knocking out defending champions Juventus 3-0 in the Quarter Finals. In a tightly contested final, Atalanta lost 2-0 to Lazio. In 2019/20, Atalanta began their Champions League campaign with a 4-0 loss away to Dinamo Zagreb, followed by a 2-1 loss at home to Shakhtar Donetsk and a 5-1 loss away to Manchester City. Atalanta got their first ever Champions League point with a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City. After a 3-0 away win against Shakhtar on the final match day, Atalanta qualified for the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in their history, and became the second time a club has advanced to the round of 16 after losing its opening three matches, after Newcastle United in 2002/03. On 19th February, Atalanta played their first ever Champions League knockout match against Valencia in the round of 16, winning the first leg 4-1. The team later advanced to the quarter finals after a 4-3 away win against Valencia in the second leg, on 10th March. Atalanta was drawn against PSG in the quarter finals. Due to Corona virus pandemic Champions

League matches postponed to August. So Atalanta will continue Champions League campaign this month. Atalanta won nine Serie A games in a row for the first time in their club’s history after a 2-0 win against Sampdoria on 8th July. On 12th July, Zapata scored his fifteenth goal of the season in a 2-2 draw against Juventus, making it the first time since Juventus in 1952 that a Serie A club had 3 players with 15 or more goals in a season - Muriel, Iličić, Zapata. After a 1–0 win against Bologna on 21st July, Atalanta mathematically secured a top four finish, qualifying for the Champions League for the second consecutive season. Let’s see how far Atalanta will go…

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