The titleholders are in danger of suffering an embarrassingly early elimination so the last thing they need right now is a trip to Bergamo
When the full-time whistle blew in Bergamo on Friday night, Atalanta's fans couldn't contain themselves. "We're going to win the league!" rang out around the Gewiss Stadium. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini had always insisted that such a beautiful dream would be impossible to realise, even for the game's greatest over-achievers, so it felt significant that he didn't even attempt to lower the supporters' expectations when he spoke to the media after the 2-1 win over AC Milan that put his side top of the Serie A table.
"We've never been top of the table after 15 games, so let them sing!" an unusually ebullient Gasperini told . "The people of Bergamo have their feet firmly on the ground. They don't take anything for granted. But they have had decades of struggle, so let them enjoy it! It's an expression of joy, and a deserved one too."
There's no doubt about that; Bergamo has been through a lot over the years but Atalanta under Gasperini have become the city's ultimate source of pride – and hope – in recent seasons. In that sense, last May's stunning Europa League final triumph felt like the fittingly glorious end of an incredible journey; Atalanta had finally got their hands on the trophy that Gasperini and everyone connected with the best-run club in football had long merited.
And yet La Dea clearly isn’t done yet. On the contrary, Gasperini, who was tipped to join Napoli during the summer, might just be in possession of his strongest side yet, with Atalanta arguably the favourites going into Tuesday night's historic Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
"I wouldn't say that!" Gasperini said smiling on Friday night, "That's subjective." It doesn't mean it's not true, though, because there's one team going into the game on top form – and it's not Madrid…
AFPA big club with a small budget
While Gasperini was talking excitedly about a Serie A title challenge and facing Madrid in the Champions League, his Milan counterpart Paulo Fonseca was whining about the officials.
It's not unusual, of course, for under-pressure coaches to come off sounding like conspiracy theorists but Fonseca made it sound as if Milan were a small club and Atalanta a traditional Serie A superpower receiving preferential treatment from referees.
It was a ludicrous insinuation but it perfectly illustrated how the Bergamaschi have put an awful lot of noses out of joint in Italy. Atalanta are the team that so often make so many of Serie A's elite look bad.
They have just the eight-highest wage bill in the league (€59 million) and yet currently top the table by two points from Napoli (€83m), with Inter a point further back in third (€142m), Juventus all the way down in sixth (€112m) and Milan doing even worse in seventh (€104m).
In that sense, Atalanta have miraculously managed to become a big club on a small budget. "The fans now feel like fans of a top team," former captain Papu Gomez told the , "so they want to fight for the top spots."
AdvertisementGetty Images SportCoping without Koopmeiners & Scamacca
Atalanta's ascent to the summit of the standings is made all the more remarkable for the fact that they suffered two serious setbacks in August.
Star striker Gianluca Scamacca ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee before the season had even got under way, while influential midfielder Teun Koopmeiners finally managed to force through a €55m (£46m/$58m) transfer to Juventus with just three days of the summer transfer window remaining.
However, Atalanta have long been masters of the market, while Gasperini is arguably without equal when it comes to continually coping with the loss of key players.
Perhaps we shouldn't have been at all surprised, then, to see Mateo Retegui prove himself an incredible replacement for Scamacca, with the €28m (£23m/$30m) signing from Genoa presently leading the Capocannoniere standings with 12 goals in just 14 games.
Furthermore, Koopmeiners, who has underwhelmed in Turin (it's no coincidence that lot of players that excel under Gasperini are never quite as effective elsewhere), hasn't been missed at all due to the collective effort of Marten de Roon, Mario Pasalic and the outstanding Ederson.
Getty Images SportGasperini's most important players
It's certainly easy to understand why Ederson has been linked with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City in recent months. There are few better defensive midfielders in the game right now and he is, as Gomez says, "the fundamental lynchpin of Gasperini's team".
In attack, Ademola Lookman has also been attracting admiring glances from the Premier League for some time now and the fear was that the Nigeria international would depart during the summer.
He was certainly keen to move after his historic hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final in Dublin but we've not seen any hint of disappointment in Lookman's play this term. His late winner against Milan was his 10th goal of the season so far, while he's also weighed in with five assists.
"I don’t know how you can stop him sometimes," Arrigo Sacchi told the last week. "He moves like a rocket and has a precise and powerful shot."
Charles De Ketelaere has arguably been Atalanta's revelation of 2024. The Belgian is one of only three players to have both scored and created 15 or more goals since the turn of the year, alongside Mohamed Salah and Cole Palmer – which is just remarkable when one considers how badly De Ketelaere struggled during his solitary season at AC Milan.
However, he's become a completely different player – and character – under Gasperini, which was perfectly illustrated by the way in which he headed home the opener against the Rossoneri on Friday night by completely bullying Theo Hernandez in the box to get on the end of De Roon's cross.
Getty Images SportA team without weaknesses?
However, it feels a little wrong to pick out individuals when Atalanta's success is very much a team effort, with every single player playing their part in a record-equalling run of nine consecutive Serie A victories, and a 14-game undefeated streak in all competitions that stretches back to September 24.
"Atalanta are a team and a club that should be held up as an example throughout Europe," Sacchi told the . "The group has been working with Gasperini for many years and knows his lessons by heart.
"When I look at it at the moment, I can't find any real weak points in Atalanta: Gasperini's tactical ideas, the man-marking all over the pitch, the exceptional athletic preparation, and the excellent choices in the build-up phase all stand out.
"Every time they find themselves faced with an obstacle, they show that they already have the solution ready. And this is thanks to the coach who has given his players a wealth of high-level knowledge."
Crucially, though, Gasperini also has a squad of greater depth than ever before.