With the added distraction of European football this season, many were predicting Atalanta to struggle, having to manage so many competitions with their relatively small squad. However, not only did they qualify for the Europe again with a 7th place finish in Serie A, they reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and performed admirably in the Europa League.
The club were inevitably stripped of some of their star players including Franck Kessie and Andrea Conti but Gian Piero Gasperini once again was able to allow youth to flourish whilst making some shrewd signings in the transfer market. The best of the summer recruits was Josip Ilicic who has only shown flashes of brilliance throughout his career but now finally seems to have settled at 30 years old and found the consistency to his game that he previously lacked. The Slovenian was top scorer with 15 goals in all competitions and his creativity was also stellar.
Atalanta had tough start to their Serie A campaign with consecutive defeats to Roma and Napoli which left them in the relegation zone but, much like last season, they soon surged up the table. In fact, they remained in the top half from November right up until the end. It wasn't quite the miraculous 4th place from the last campaign but 7th still allowed them to qualify for the preliminary stages of the Europa League.
They'll be eager for another European adventure after an excellent run this time around. They were drawn in a group with Lyon and Everton yet still managed to top it without tasting defeat.The knockout stages brought a daunting looking tie against Borussia Dortmund but La Dea went toe-to-toe with the German giants over two legs and only went out to a very late goal in the home leg. They were also very narrowly beaten over two legs by Juventus in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
All in all, it has been another memorable campaign for the Orobici and there have been many starring players. Alejandro Gomez remains the heartbeat of the club with yet more dynamic displays in attack. Bryan Cristante has attracted interest from around Europe after scoring 12 goals from midfield. Remo Freuler formed a superb partnership with Marten de Roon in the centre of the park whilst the back-three was always solid no matter who played. Musa Barrow came into the side towards the end of the season and showed real promise up front - seemingly another success story for Atalanta's vaunted youth set-up. It seems likely that the club will lose some of their stars again this summer but Gasperini continues to produce the goods in spite of it.
