You miss only one being and everything is depopulated. Except for Atalanta Bergamo, obviously. Thus, even deprived for personal reasons of Josip Ilicic in Lisbon, the “Dea” does not seem to lack offensive resources to pose serious problems to the Parisian rearguard in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. However, Ilicic is not just anyone. Without his quadrupled in the round of 16 return to the field of Valencia (3-4), it is likely that the transalpine club would not be present in the Portuguese capital to play this unprecedented Final 8. Author of 20 goals this season in all competitions , the Slovenian striker weighs less than 20% of the goals scored by his team this season. Namely 118 achievements, including 98 in Serie A. A record all the more impressive that, on paper, Atalanta does not have a "fuoriclasse", the Italian term for these gifted and prolific attackers.
Luis Muriel, the scorer from the bench
Symbol of this protean attack, the Top 10 top scorers in Serie A during the past season is very revealing. The team led by Gian Piero Gasperini is the only one to place not one or two players, but three. Namely Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata, each author of 18 goals, Ilicic coming next with his 15 goals. Muriel, in this respect, turns out to be the most impressive since he has only been tenured ten times, which makes him the perfect embodiment of the famous qualifier of “supersub” (super replacement in French in the text) . At 29, the Colombian found in Bergamo a formidable field of expression, he who remained on complicated experiences in Seville or Fiorentina. He also, and above all, assimilated what Gasperini expected of him and why he did not start in the immutable 3-4-2-1 set up by the transalpine technician.
Environments that mark a lot
In this diagram, only one player appears essential for the proper ordering of the Atalanta scoring machine: Alejandro Gomez. The Argentine number 10 has delivered 16 assists to his partners this season, the best total in Serie A ahead of Lazio Roma player Luis Alberto (15). But if "El Papu" improves the game of his partners, he is also very well surrounded in the middle of the field with elements not hesitating to come and bring danger to the opposing goal. With 26 goals between them, Mario Pasalic (9), Ruslan Malinovskiy (8) and Robin Gosens (9) bring a diversity of dangers that has almost no equivalent today in Europe. So much so that only four teams since the start of the season have managed to finish a meeting without getting the ball in the back of its net at least once. A performance that only Inter Milan managed to achieve in 2020, on the final day of the championship (success in Bergamo 0-2). On the other hand, others took the water from all sides, such as Udinese (7-1), Torino (0-7) or even AC Milan (5-0).
"Zapata is one of those great players who hit you as soon as you lose your concentration for a moment"
Leonardo BonucciAt the forefront of the attack, as stated previously, Atalanta does not have what it is permissible to qualify as a star. Indeed, ask an informed amateur who, according to him, are the ten best current center-forward and it is unlikely that he will spontaneously quote Duvan Zapata (29 years old). It must be said that before his arrival in Bergamo on loan in the summer of 2018, the club's other Colombian striker - with Muriel - had hardly impressed. But under the orders of Gasperini, he took on another dimension, scoring 41 goals in two Serie A seasons. A sublime affair for "the Dea" which exercised its purchase option in January 2020 for…. 12 million euros (in addition to the cost of the loan of approximately the same order, for an estimated total of 24-25 million euros). Almost a gift for a player whose odds are estimated today at more than 50 million euros. Asked a few weeks ago about the most difficult striker to face in Serie A, Leonardo Bonucci immediately gave the name of the Colombian. “He's tall, sharp, he has the power, the speed. You have to have special attention. He is one of those great players who hit you as soon as you lose your concentration for a moment, ”explained the Juventus defender.
Un pizzico di potenza e di qualità per cominciare il weekend
Just some #FridayFeeling skills from Duván #GoAtalantaGo ⚫️ # Zapatapic.twitter.com / qtwkJPn4ty
Zapata is not the only one to have made enormous progress under Gapsperini's orders. For Monaco fans, it is difficult, in fact, to recognize the Pasalic of the past season and the one who evolved to Louis II during the 2015-2016 financial year. Admittedly, at the time, he was only 20 years old, but even afterwards, at AC Milan or Spartak Moscow, he did not give a glimpse of the level of play which is his now. Hence this analysis of Gasperini in the columns of L'Equipe , to explain why his team has become so formidable in attack. “Last year, we were already the best attack in the championship (77 goals), this is nothing new. It is simply due to the progress of the players from a technical point of view, which allows us to be more efficient in front of goal (…) I believe that this year, we have broadened our range of solutions, many of my players have scored or distributed assists. " And the former trainer of Juventus is also not for nothing in this formidable progression, which only asks to continue against Paris SG and other big ones in Europe.
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