On Wednesday, the Bernese Young Boys will play in the Champions League in Bergamo. Atalanta is the showcase of Serie A because the coach Gian Piero Gasperini lets uncompromising play forward.
The marathon man from Bergamo: Remo Freuler.
Nicol Campo / Imago
From FCZ to the Champions League: Berat Djimsiti.
Nicol Campo / Imago
Three goals scored, two recognized, 21 shots on goal and a 2-2 point from San Siro – this is Atalanta Bergamo’s record from Saturday’s championship game against champions Inter Milan. The coach Gian Piero Gasperini had tears on his face: The goal of the alleged 3-2, which the Bergamo-born 20-year-old center forward Roberto Piccoli, who is reminiscent of Christian Vieri, was like a Christmas get-together for the coach, Name day and birthday. Because his failure as coach of Inter still hurts.
It was almost exactly ten years ago that he was kicked out by the great Nerazzurri. With Atalanta Bergamo, the little Nerazzurri, he has never managed a victory in the home stadium of Inter.
Stuttering goal machinery
But now the spell seemed broken. But then the VAR, the Video Assistant Referee, spoke a word of power. The hit was withdrawn. «The decision is correct. The ball was out of bounds beforehand. But if we were asked, we would like to burn the VAR », commented Gasperini sarcastically, with dry eyes again.
He also played on the match against the Fiorentina and one then denied hits. Gasperini did not take that verdict so calmly. The controversial goal was scored by Berat Djimsiti, transferred from FC Zurich to Atalanta in 2016. The central defender also caused the penalty in this strange match, which secured the Fiorentina the 2-1 away win. On that third day of the match Atalanta was in a mini-crisis, with only four points to book. Perhaps even worse: The former Serie A peat factory had only scored two hits.
The Champions League brought relief shortly afterwards. After a turbulent match, the Europa League winners Villarreal scored 2-2. One of the goalscorers was the Swiss international Remo Freuler. The Atalanta was the same again: good at scoring goals and generous in scoring hits.
“I would rather win 4: 3 than 1: 0” is the credo of coach Gasperini. Then he has aligned his system, this is what the results often look like. Gasperini prefers a robust 3: 4: 3 basic system, which he likes to vary on the offensive. So he often lets a playmaker act behind two tips. This position is currently held by the national team and European champion Matteo Pessina, previously it was reserved for the lively Alejandro Gómez. Sometimes Gasperini switches to just one attacker. As long as the extremely fast Colombian Luis Muriel is still injured, his compatriot Duvan Zapata will play this role. He is strong in control of the ball, includes the following people in the game and appears again in front of the goal to complete.
Wherever he’s on the sidelines, there’s always something going on: 63-year-old Gian Piero Gasperini, spirited coach in Bergamo.
Matteo Bazzi / EPA
To the Four-man midfielders have two main roles in possession of the ball. The central midfielders, currently Freuler and the Dutchman Marten de Roon, alternately fall back on the line of the defenders to build up the game. The two outsiders, among them the German international Robin Gosens, on the other hand, form dynamic triangles with the offensive forces, but also the respective defenders on their side. This creates an overweight in the outer positions. Because the defenders and outside midfielders often overrun the attackers, it is difficult for opposing teams to predict who to focus on. Freuler and de Roon usually advance into the gaps.
A hallmark of Gasperini’s football is that the players in the three-way defensive chain move up a long way when the ball is in possession and also join in the attacks. It is therefore not surprising that Djimsiti appears again and again among the scorers – sometimes with denied hits.
The 28-year-old owed his breakthrough to an injury to José Palominos. In a match against Inter in November 2018, he impressively represented the tough Argentine: He made his opponent Mauro Icardi look pale and contributed a goal to the 4-1 home win.
Freuler has been a regular at Atalanta for two years. He has internalized the game philosophy of his coach deeply. So did the aggressive pressing. The three offensive players attack the opposing defenders and exert pressure. The man-oriented pressing continues in the midfield at Freuler and Co. The opposing defenders are thus forced to give back passes to the goalkeeper or to free blows. These often end up in the off or with Djimsitis neighbor Palomino. This leads the Serie A statistics of the captured balls, with 67 after only six game days.
Remo Freuler, the running miracle
Of course, this game also has its price, it requires a great willingness to run. No wonder, with 11.564 kilometers per match, Freuler is the player with the third longest running distances in Serie A.
“I’ve never trained as hard as in Bergamo in my life,” Freuler once said. It is not for nothing that the Atalanta jerseys do not only have the names of the players stamped on them. There is also the slogan in white on blue: “la maglia sudata semper” (always a sweaty jersey). The fact that Gasperini is said to have insulted an unannounced doping control officer last season casts a shadow over the drudgery.
The hurray football of the Gasperini brand also has its weaknesses. The Atalanta defensive is not considered to be particularly stable and is prone to counter-attacks. Games to zero are rather rare. But that is compensated for by an impressively high goal rate. Atalanta scored 188 goals in the last two seasons. Juventus totaled 153 goals, Inter 170. The goals are enough for many points. For the third time in a row, the provincial club from Lombardy qualified for the Champions League. Atalanta Bergamo is no longer an onlooker in Europe, the club is a regular guest.
A dispute leaves its mark
But Gasperini has to get his exuberant temper under control. Arguing with the referee and sayings like “We would like to burn the VAR” are nice for the gallery, but hardly serve the matter. His claim to omnipotence also led to the club idol Alejandro Gómez leaving Bergamo for Sevilla FC in January 2021 after a dispute. The rift and its consequences paralyzed the club last season. The coach then conjured the previously unknown Pessina out of the hat. But the affair left scars.
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