Atalanta’s 2020-2021 season has begun, it’ll be another challenging and important season as the Nerazzurri will be competing in Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League. Here is the interview with captain Papu Gomez.

It seems like yesterday, yet the 2020/21 season has already started. You got together to officially begin this new season. 

“Yes, we’re happy. We rested a little. We needed to recharge our energies to restart training. It’ll for sure be another season full of great success for Atalanta”.

2019/20 season: let’s go back to the previous season. Did you imagine it to be like this? You wanted to play in the Champions League. You were named in the 2019/20 UCL squad by the UEFA Champions League. How satisfying!

“Yes, it was immense satisfaction. I must thank all the staff, all my teammates that helped me find my best form, my best way to play football. I’m truly happy. It was a fantastic season, lived until the very last moment”.

Which was the match that you’ll remember the most? Moreover, you’ve been chosen as the ‘player of the season’ by Atalanta fans. 

“The match I remember the most is probably the one we played at the San Siro against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, I even scored”. 

What a goal that was!

“Yes. That match – that we won – probably gave us the chance to play for a spot in the round of 16. I’ll remember that match forever”.

Papu, Atalanta made the news, you made people talk about Bergamo all over the world, as the Champions League gives you worldwide exposure.

“True. That surprised me a lot, even in my country, in Argentina, people only spoke about Atalanta and how we played, our style of play and all the goals we scored. This makes us really proud, especially those who have been here for many years, fighting for safety then, fighting for great achievements now. Seeing how Atalanta have improved, together with the city, their players and everything is so satisfying”. 

2020/21 season: what are the goals? As you’ll play in the league, Coppa Italia and UCL.

“The objectives are always the same, we’ll always try to improve ourselves. We obviously know that it’ll be very tough to improve last season’s results, but we’ll try to keep Atalanta’s level high. We’ll try to bring Atalanta to play in the European competitions and above all make our fans happy”.

The affection of the fans never faded away and will never be missing.

“No (exactly). Sometimes I get to watch matches before the lockdown and we miss them so much. We miss to see our stadium crowded with our fans, the Curva full of people. Hopefully they can back sooner or later”.

Papu, you’ve already met Gasperini, what did he tell you?

“Nothing. We greeted each other, we’re both tanned and already fired up to start”.