by Fabio Gennari
They say the numbers are cold. Simple. Direct. Words are needed to paint them with color, to make them more exciting. But then there are situations in which we need to start from there, from those figures which, placed side by side, have enormous power. To explain. To make people understand. And, in this case, there is little to understand: you have to read. Believe. Believing in a visceral love, something that is not conditioned by trophies and successes. But only from the sense of belonging.
Atalanta announced last night (20 May) at dinner time that 7,960 Nerazzurri fans will be present tomorrow at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Considering that it is played on an island and that it is not easy to reach the venue of the final, both due to the skyrocketing prices and the heavy air traffic that affects charter flights, this is a great result. There are enthusiasts who still don’t have a solution to get to Ireland. But in the end they will make it.
There are reports of fans departing from Bergamo both with direct flights and with decidedly imaginative solutions: some will stop off in London, others in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, but there are also fans who will arrive in Cork and Belfast and then move by train or, on the road on the return leg, they planned bounces in one or even two European destinations before landing in Pisa, Bologna, Rome and even Bari. You read that right: Bari. We don’t have full knowledge of all the possible routes. But there are many. Trust me.
A historic occasion, a great desire to be there for a people who, this season, have already seen the Goddess protagonist in Lisbon (twice), Graz, Czestochowa, Liverpool and Marseille and who have almost finished their holidays to do so. A total passion, a desire to stay alongside her boys without interruption just a week after the Rome exodus. Against Juventus last week, around 23,000 Atalanta fans reached the Olimpico for the Italian Cup final.
