Atalanta managed to steal the show again in Italy. It seemed impossible for them to top their historic previous season but Le Dea finished in 3rd place again with an extra 9 points and an astonishing 98 goals scored. Gian Piero Gasperini's brand of high octane attacking football made this modestly assembled group of players arguably the most "must see" team in Europe.
The Europa League was a stage that Atalanta failed on last season and they initially looked ill-equipped to deal with the even greater task of the Champions League this term. They lost their opening three group games - including a 4-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb and a 5-1 hammering at Manchester City. Gasperini's high pressing forward thinking style was being written off as being "too naive" at this level but the veteran coach never wavered from his principles and his side made it work - qualifying from their group with a terrific 3-0 away win at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Atalanta's league form stuttered towards Christmas but a monumental 5-0 victory over AC Milan in their last game of the year was a big moment. They lost just once in Serie A in 2020 until the final day of the season when they were ultimately pipped to 2nd place in a decider with Inter.
In the meantime, Le Dea also bulldozered their way into the Champions League quarter-finals - scoring 4 times in each leg against Valencia in the last 16.
The big story off the pitch was the Coronavirus pandemic and Bergamo was one of the worst hit locations. Atalanta lifted the city with 6 straight wins in the league after the restart. They came so close to a fairytale place in the last 4 of Europe's premier club competition but ultimately fell in the closing minutes to the embarrassment of riches at Paris Saint Germain.
There were again so many heroes for Le Dea this season. Hans Hateboer and Robin Gosens continued to illustrate the added importance of full-backs in the modern game. The German contributed a superb tally of 10 goals from left wing-back. Duvan Zapata led the line superbly again but Josip Ilicic topped the goalscoring charts despite being injured for the run-in. He was badly missed against PSG in the Champions League - having scored 4 goals in one game at Valencia in the previous round.
Papu Gomez remains the metronome of this incredible team - everything goes through the little Argentine orchestrator who at 32 years of age continues to produce the best performances of his career and is a leading candidate for Serie A Player of the Season again.
Gasperini has now seemingly established Atalanta as a top 4 side in Italy - could a trophy be next?
