Until a handful of years ago, a night like the one in Dublin wouldn’t have even existed in the most unspeakable and irrational dreams of Atalanta fans. And instead we really did it: Gasperini’s team won the Europa League and is on top of Europe, with the enthusiasm of those who climb there for the first time in its history and with the pride of having done it brilliantly, in their own way. The 3-0 round given to the revelation team of 2024, Bayer Leverkusen, is the snapshot of a surprisingly one-sided final, in which the Germans experienced firsthand – or rather: on their own blunt teeth – what Guardiola meant when he said that «playing against Atalanta is like going to the dentist». A dentist who yesterday showed himself to be particularly ruthless, given that he took to the pitch with a decidedly offensive set-up (Koopmeiners dropped back alongside Ederson and in support of the Lookman-De Ketelaere-Scamacca trident) and causing pain to Xabi Alonso with the traditional brand of Gasperini factory, made up of high pressing, ferocious re-aggression, full-court one-on-ones and at crazy pace. All embellished by a literally irrepressible Ademola Lookman, author of a hat-trick which, we can say, is worth a career.
Dublin’s victory, against a Leverkusen team who had never lost in the season (51 games) and who trailed Bayern Munich by almost twenty points in the Bundesliga, represents the zenith of the long journey that has brought us here, from far away, Gian Piero Gasperini’s team. A journey that in Italy we have had the privilege of observing closely, one step of growth after another, to the point of almost no longer surprising us. To the point of expecting results, victories, and even demanding them, losing all sense of proportion. Until the label is stuck loser to a guilty coach of having reached a series of finals, indeed of having shaped a system from nothing that could even only dream of a final, but of never having managed to win one.
“We always talk about cups, about trophies, but when you manage to do something that no one has ever done in history, maybe it’s not a cup, maybe it’s not a trophy, but it’s still an extraordinary result.” Thus Gasperini took leave of Anfield last 11 April, after another resounding 3-0 European victory, delivered to a Liverpool team that had been unbeaten at home for more than a year – we still had to discover that this Atalanta was a team on a mission – and absolute favorite to win the tournament. A result that would be extraordinary for anyone, let alone for a club the size of Bergamo, with a fan base of around 330 thousand fans (StageUp and Ipsos data), ten to fifteen times smaller than the “big markets” of our country. championship; a club that entered the new millennium floating between Serie A and B, which until eight years ago was firmly on the right side of the table, and which that evening had ruined Klopp’s last European campaign at Liverpool. A result that would have been enough to put aside the series of lost finals, even after the disappointment of the defeat in the Italian Cup, against Juventus; and it should have been enough if things had gone differently in the Dublin match.
In the end, Gasp won the most important final, one of the most difficult he faced. And he did it in style. And even if “I’m not better than yesterday just because I won”, as he reiterated after the awards ceremony, from today there is a prestigious European title, taken to footballing-unthinkable latitudes, to certify the quality of the work done. Indelibly. Abroad they talk about sporting miracleand it is a recognition more than deserved by its creators: Gasperini, the Percassi brothers (president and managing director since 2010, confirmed also after the arrival of the consortium led by Stephen Pagliuca), Maurizio Costanzi (responsible for the youth team for many years , and footballing father of just as many talents) and all the figures who have contributed, on and off the pitch, to the construction of a model appreciated throughout the continent, to the point of becoming a point of reference.
The Atalanta system in fact represents excellence in terms of planning and investments. In the Percassi era, spending levels increased in every sector, gradually, in step with the affirmation and stabilization of the team among the greats of Serie A, up to the current status of an established club on the international scene. The approach has always been very prudent, but equally ambitious: we have never bitten off more than we can chew, we have never closed a budget with a negative sign since 2016, and yet we have never been satisfied. The company has continuously raised the bar, investing over half a billion euros in seven years, thanks above all to the revenue guaranteed by access to UEFA competitions and player trading. One capital gain after another, reaping the fruits of scouting and internal value development work, from the youth team to the first team, in a well-documented tradition of maxi-deals – Hojlund the most recent, will Koopmeiners be next?
“It’s not easy but it’s replicable as a model,” Gasperini said in a recent press conference, in a speech that could be the manifesto of his management. «We have given trust and hope to teams that are not top tier and do not have large incomes. With the ideas and ability that the club had to make incredible capital gains, and then reinvest in other players by creating equally strong teams, we have managed to continually improve. This has been the secret of this Atalanta in recent years. This is the only way for companies with our numbers to be competitive. Every year you have to reinvent yourself and find resources. Clearly it is important to go to the Champions League, this has unquestionably been an advantage in recent years, together with the ability to sell. You can do very little wrong, because if you don’t strengthen the team and don’t make the right investments it’s difficult to recover. The essence of Atalanta is this: we have no resources regardless, you have to create them.” This reflection emerged again, with the right touch of pride, in the press conference after the final in Dublin. And from a completely new perspective: «Winning like Atalanta won, without debt, I think is a great way to triumph».
It is for all these reasons that today Atalanta has its own stadium, a cutting-edge training center and a second team in the Lega Pro; who can afford 30 million signings like Scamacca, Tourè and De Ketelaere, competing with the big Serie A teams on the market; which can face the best teams in Europe head-on, demonstrating that it is a reality that now consciously belongs to this level. With the great merit of a management that has always believed in the technical project, even in low moments, such as the beginning of the 2016/17 season, or the autumn of 2018. The trust in Gasperini has never wavered, and an increasingly solid structure has taken shape around the coach, with continuity and coherence in the choices to indicate the way, even in the transfer market; no revolutions (distributing the most impactful transfers), space for youngsters (six Under-25 players were starters at Anfield, for example) and for youth products (Scalvini, Ruggeri, Carnesecchi).
The ideas thus became a vision. And philosophy has transformed into a culture. Which, combined with the experience acquired year after year, has become a winning culture. Just as Gasperini’s game system proved to be successful, courageous and innovative, having had an enormous influence first at an Italian level (his disciples they are no longer counted) and then international. “It also affects me to see teams pointing to us as an example to copy,” Gasperini admitted in the press conference, then speaking about “Tuchel’s Chelsea, who played 3-a-side after challenging us against PSG.” And then “Real three against us”, and “many teams in Europe”. It is truly a sporting feat with very few precedents, and to definitively certify it, Atalanta returned from Ireland this night, welcomed by a city in celebration, with the first ever Europa League for an Italian club; Roma came close twelve months ago and Inter in 2020, but the last success in the second European competition dates back to 1999, when Malesani’s Parma won the UEFA Cup.
It all started in August 2016 with a 3-0 win over Cremonese in the Italian Cup that few will remember. Yesterday, the project culminated on a much brighter stage, but with the same result, which has also become familiar for the Dea in the decisive matches of this Europa League. In the most important ninety minutes of Atalanta’s history, the protagonist was Ademola Lookman, granted man of the match after a historic evening on an individual level, as it was for his team. His hat-trick is a rarity in a European final – only Puskás (twice), Di Stefano, Heynckes and Pierino Prati had achieved it before him – and it is an exploit that tells a lot about this Atalanta. For the explosive beauty, first of all: if the 1-0 goal is the result of a collective action and a defensive distraction, the second and third goals are a concentration of his best qualities; put together in the best way, at the right time and in the right place.
Images destined to remain in history
The Nigerian’s background also tells something about this Atalanta. Lookman arrived in Bergamo in 2022, for less than ten million euros, in search of himself. He had scored 33 goals in seven seasons, he had never fully expressed his potential, neither in the Bundesliga nor in the Premier League, but in Gasperini’s 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-1-2) he is found. Indeed, he has discovered the best version of himself, as evidenced – among other things – by the 30 goals scored in a Nerazzurri shirt. Lookman never misses an opportunity to underline the merits of the technical staff, like his teammates from last night, Scamacca and De Ketelaere; or Hien, who four years ago played (as a striker!) in the Swedish third division and yesterday was among the best on the pitch; or Koopmeiners, who quickly established himself among the best midfielders in Europe in Bergamo, and could move to a top club this summer. In short, a long list of players who have passed, grown and exploded in these parts, made in Zingoniagave to Gasperini what is Gasperini’s. Yesterday his Atalanta wrote one of the most beautiful pages of Italian football in memory. For the journey and the values that accompanied it, perhaps the most beautiful of all. Because, as Gasperini says, «football is beautiful because of meritocracy, not because of genetically acquired rights».
