Atalanta in the Champions League

Atalanta earned their best-ever finish at the end of the 2018/2019 Serie A TIM season: thanks to their third place, Gasperini's team also qualified for their first-ever Uefa Champions League.

At the Grimaldi Forum in Montecarlo, on Thursday 29 August, President Antonio Percassi and CEO Luca Percassi attended the Uefa Champions League 2019-2020 Group Stage draw. Atalanta were drawn in the Group C together with English side Manchester City, Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.

Here's the video of a special day. © This video can be used only by embedding it

On the 18th September 2019 Atalanta rewrote their history, making their debut in the Uefa Champions League, the most prestigious Europe's top club competition. The Nerazzurri were hosted by Dinamo Zagabria. At the Maksimir Stadium, the Nerazzurri paid the price of their debut as the hosts won 4-0.

On the 1st October Atalanta made their home debut in the competition: at the Giuseppe Meazza in Milan, they hosted visitors Shakhtar Donetsk. The Nerazzurri missed a penalty before taking the lead through Zapata, who became the first historic scorer of Atalanta in Champions League. But at the end, the Ukrainian side won 1-2, thanks to a goal on 95'.

On the 22nd October the Nerazzurri travelled to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, Guardiola's City are one of the teams most likely to come out on top at the end of the competition. Atalanta scored their first penalty in the Champions League thanks to Malinovskyi's cynical shot from 11 metres and even got the lead. In the end, the hosts won 5-1.

On the 6th November City visited Atalanta, the Cityzens first got the lead and then missed the penalty that could have doubled their advantage. Atalanta took over and Pašalić equalised through a header coming off Papu Gomez's cross. City ended the match on 10 and without a goalkeeper: the Nerazzurri didn't manage to take advantage of the opportunity. The satisfaction of having achieved the 1st UCL point is huge.

On the 26th November, Atalanta played again in front of their fans, they absolutely needed to win to keep their European hopes alive. And the Nerazzurri won 2-0 thanks to Muriel, who scored a penalty, and Papu Gomez, who scored a beauty. That was the first Nerazzurri win in the Champions League! If Atalanta won in Ukraine as well, they could still play in Europe!

On the 11th December, the Nerazzurri visited Shakhtar Donetsk to play at the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv. Atalanta won 3-0 thanks to Castagne, Pašalić and Gosens and qualified as their group runners-up for the UCL Round of 16! The Nerazzurri were one of the 16 best European teams! History had been rewritten.

On Monday, the 16th December, in Nyon, Atalanta found out their opponents in the Round of 16.

Here's the video of another historic day. © This video can be used only by embedding it

Valencia were Atalanta opponents in the Round of 16 double ties, among the 16 qualified teams the Spaniards were for sure the most welcomed option for the Nerazzurri, but still fearsome opponents.

Atalanta not only won the first leg, at the Meazza on the 19th February, but also the second, at the Mestalla on the 10th March, scoring 4 goals in both matches. At home the Nerazzurri reached 4-0 (Hateboer opened and closed the scoresheet, Iličić and Freuler in the middle) before conceding a goal to Valencia, the match ended 4-1. The main protagonist away was Iličić, as he scored all 4 Nerazzurri goal, Valencia got defeated 3-4 again.

Atalanta keep writing incredible pages of their history. The Nerazzurri are among the 8 best European teams. And to think that after three Group matches the Nerazzurri team still had 0 points...