A couple of decades ago the Italian top flight was unchallenged as the most glamourous, high-quality and financially powerful league in all of football, home to the best players, the smartest coaches and the most vociferous fans.
When the boom was followed by bust, star players fled, crowds and television interest dwindled and the league slipped down the European pecking order, unable to shake off a reputation – however unfair – for staid, defensive football as many of the giants of calico slipped into a slumber.
Serie A is making somewhat of a resurgence of late, though. Despite the monotonous dominance of Juventus, who are on course for an eighth straight title, Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in Italy has drawn eyeballs globally, Inter Milan’s resurrection under Antonio Conte is one of the continent’s most intriguing storylines and many of the game’s most productive and sought-after attackers – from Ronaldo to Ciro Immobile, Lautaro Martinez to Paulo Dybala – can once again be found on the Peninsula.
Josip Ilicic has 10 goals in his last 10 Serie A games and 14 total on the season.
Atalanta signed him for €5.5m from Fiorentina.
Since then, he has stayed healthy and scored 37 league goals with 18 assists in three seasons.
The ultimate bargain. pic.twitter.com/Q6I0MH22eI
— Matteo Bonetti (@BonettiESPN) February 17, 2020
For all the rediscovered attacking might of Serie A’s traditional powers, the division’s most thrilling football is being played by Atalanta, and it is yielding unlikely yet sustainable success for the club from Lombardy. A 2-1 victory over Roma at the Stadi Atleti Azzurri d'Italia on Saturday helped cement La Dea’s spot in the fourth and final Champions League-qualification position, a healthy six points clear of their fifth-placed visitors from the capital.
Last season’s remarkable third-place finish means Atalanta already sit at Europe’s top table and, despite losing their first three group games with a cumulative total of 11 goals conceded and only two scored, they have made it through to the last 16, where they take on Valencia. It is a fact of the modern game that, in order to punch significantly above their financial weight, smaller clubs ordinarily have to make gains on their wealthier rivals in the organisation, defensive-rigidity and counter-punching departments. This does not apply to Atalanta.
Ever since veteran coach Gian Piero Gasperini took charge of the club 2016, Atalanta have exhibited some of the most free-flowing and inventive football in Italy. Regardless of the opposition, they attack fearlessly and with a multifaceted approach powered by their speed down the flanks, subtle movement of the ball in central areas and, spearheaded by captain and club legend Alejandro “Papu” Gomez, deftness and creativity in the final third.
Gasperini’s first campaign at the helm saw Atalanta finish fourth, a vast improvement on the 13th of the season before, although, at the time, good enough only for a Europa League place. A dip to seventh the following season was mitigated somewhat by a run to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, and last term saw them rise to third and earn the runners-up distinction in the cup.
To those who have followed Atalanta’s recent fortunes closely, then, it is little surprise that Gasperini’s men are once again on course to elbow their way in among the division’s elite. It is more surprising, in fact, that they are not higher, with the underlying numbers behind their performances this season suggesting they ought to be threatening Juve’s Serie A monopoly.
4 – Alejandro Gómez is the only player so far to have delivered 10+ assists in each of the last four season in the top-5 European leagues. Artist. pic.twitter.com/wlLmatep6R
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 11, 2020
Atalanta are Serie A’s highest scorers this season, racking up an incredible 63 goals in just 24 games – that’s 19 more than Juventus and eight better than Lazio, the league’s second-best attacking outfit. And the expected goals (xG) totals for the campaign suggest Atalanta – with their dynamic 3-4-1-2 replete with prolific scorers Duvan Zapata (28 goals in all competitions), Josip Ilicic (13) and Gomez (11) – are Italy’s deadliest attack on merit, boasting a league-best xG of 58.22, streets ahead of Roma, the next best, on 47.54.
The 32 goals Atalanta have shipped in Serie A this season gives them the joint-worst defensive record in the top eight. But, with an xG-against total of 26.98 – bettered only by Inter (24.54) and Juventus (25.17) – the statistics suggest they have been unfortunate to concede so regularly. What’s more, understat.com’s Expected Points model has Atalanta, incredibly, ranked as Serie A’s best team this season, their score of 50.18 outstripping Inter (48.31), with Juventus (44.76) down in fourth.
Atalanta’s success has been built on the strength of arguably the most productive youth academy in Italy, making first-team stars of the likes of Mattia Caldara, Dejan Kulusevski and Franck Kessie before selling them on to fund further investment, the long-under-appreciated tactical acumen of Gasperini and the faith placed in a core of veterans and journeymen.
Such a volatile melting pot will prove difficult to replicate elsewhere, but for Atalanta, it’s a recipe for sustained success done the right way.
