Straight into its history, from the main door, after a match dominated far and wide. Atalanta was fantastic, defeating Bayer Leverkusen with a hat-trick from Lookman, giving the Germans the bitter taste of defeat in the most important match for the first time in the season and winning the Europa League. And Bergamo enjoys: thousands and thousands throughout the province in front of the giant screens, from the valleys to the city; the Orobic capital was stormed by more than 15 thousand Atalanta fans who wanted to celebrate the triumph of Gasperini’s boys until late at night.
Appointment with history centered, as no one would have ever thought. The perfect match, humiliating and dominating the Germans far and wide who understood very little about it: 2-0 at the end of the first half and then a second half in which time seemed to no longer pass. At the final whistle the dream becomes reality. The Europa League was raised to the skies for the first time by an Italian team: the last to win the UEFA Cup was Parma at the age of 25 and coincidentally against Marseille (this year eliminated by Atalanta in the semi-final). Bergamo explodes with joy until late at night and thousands of people from the province arrive at Porta Nuova to enjoy an endless party.
It was breaking a taboo: before yesterday generations of Atalanta had never seen anything win. Since 1963 a trophy has been missing from the Bergamo showcase: time has passed inexorably between decades between A and B, a sad year in C, the Bortolotti era and the vanished dreams between the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup, up to the second Percassi era and a long journey that has a main actor and the name of Gian Piero Gasperini. Atalanta beautiful and unfinished, without successes in the Gasp era: now things have changed and a circle has closed.
And our thoughts turn to the sad days of Covid19, to the Atalanta fans who are no longer here, to the old generations of season ticket holders of a different type of football who now from up there see their children and grandchildren celebrate and in their hearts rejoice, for a triumph that belongs to all Bergamo.
