Atalanta Have Finally Taken The Next Step To Become A Force In Italy

The 2018-19 Serie A season has ended and now it’s time to analyse what happened in Italy’s top-flight. The biggest news was Juventus winning the title and the fact that three other teams will join them in the UEFA Champions League next year: Napoli, Atalanta and Inter Milan.

Yes, you read that right. Atalanta will play in the Champions League next season and their overall campaign has been quite a story. They have undoubtedly become Italy’s most surprising side during the season and their accomplishment is especially huge given how they started the season.

Atalanta’s rise will be one to remember

You might not remember this, but Atalanta looked like a team destined to fight against relegation in the first few weeks of the season. They only gained six of their first 24 points available and were massively underachieving. Plus, their biggest summer signing, Duvan Zapata, couldn’t find the back of the net in the first 10 Serie A match. But out of nowhere, something happened and woke them up.

Fast forward to the second half of the season, and the improvements were noticeable. Atalanta was the team that got more points during the second half of the season (44) and that allowed them to inch closer and closer to a European spot. But the path towards the Champions League wasn’t going to be easy, and they had to wait until the final week of the campaign to clinch that spot.

Plus, Zapata became a goalscoring machine and ended the year as the league’s second top scorer with 23 goals. He was a key piece on the league’s top scoring unit since Atalanta netted an impressive tally of 77 goals – that’s three more than second-placed Napoli, and seven more than Juventus, the league champions.

In the end, Atalanta finished the season in third place with 69 points. They topped Inter based on their goal differential, and finished one points above AC Milan (fifth). Surely, this is a campaign Atalanta fans won’t forget any time soon.

Who were the club’s key players?

Zapata was among the club’s top performers thanks to his 23-goal, seven-assist campaign. But he wasn’t the only player who stood out during the season, even if he scored more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo.

We also must mention Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez, who chipped in with seven goals and 11 assists, and Josip Ilicic, who finished the year 12 goals and seven assists. Between the three of them, they combined for 42 goals and 25 assists. That’s an impressive tally for a scoring three, and one that surely pust them among the most prolific ones in Europe.

What’s next for Atalanta?

The club must plan the upcoming season accordingly, but there’s one thing they NEED to do. And that is to retain most of their regulars while also aiming to improve the squad considerably. It’s one thing to have a stellar year at the domestic level, but it’s a different thing to repeat it on a consecutive basis while also playing a continental competition.

Let’s see if Atalanta have what it takes to remain at the upper echelon of the Serie A. But regardless of what happens next year, the fans need to enjoy this moment. Right now, they’re one of the driving forces in the Serie A. Something that looked extremely unlikely only a few years ago.