Gian Piero Gasperini didn’t fall for it. He had heard it on the radio and seen it in the newspapers. His team Atalanta was apparently the favorite against Real Madrid in the Champions League. Atalanta! Gasperini smiled wryly. “No team can feel like they are favorites against Real Madrid,” he protested.

That suggestion alone was a reminder of how much the club’s fortunes have changed during Gasperini’s eight years in Bergamo.

Eight years have eclipsed Atalanta’s previous 109 years, so much so that families who take their children there on Champions League nights are finding it hard to make the next generation of fans believe this Team once defined success by promotion to Serie A returning after relegation. Fighting for the Scudetto in Serie A, reaching multiple Coppa Italia finals and winning the Europa League in Dublin were beyond their wildest dreams.

This success against the previously unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen team was rewarded with a place in the Supercup against Madrid, the Champions League winners, in Warsaw last August. “For a moment it seemed to be the highest point in the club’s history,” Gasperini recalled.

At the time, he regretted not being able to call on the team that gave Atalanta its first major trophy in more than six decades. Teun Koopmeiners was waiting for a move to Juventus, which he would only receive at the end of the transfer window. Dublin hat-trick heroine Ademola Lookman felt it was time to leave the club amid interest from PSG. His head had been turned.

Another three-letter acronym plagued Gasperini: ACL. Giorgio Scalvini and last season’s top scorer Gianluca Scamacca were unavailable due to torn knee ligaments. The bench was full of graduates from Atalanta’s prestigious academy. Marco Palestra and Alberto Manzoni, for example, were Gasperini’s final substitutes in a 2-0 defeat that was only decided by Kylian Mbappe’s debut goal for Madrid midway through the second half.

If the Super Cup was the pinnacle, as Gasperini defined it, was Atalanta’s only way down after that? They were flush with cash after winning the Europa League and qualifying for the record-breaking Champions League. Other minority partners also bought into the club. The eventual sale of Koopmeiners, a stroke of luck only surpassed by the transfer of Rasmus Hojlund to Manchester United last summer, was not mandatory. The balance was positive. Atalanta had never had it so good. It was simultaneously the best time to be in the club and probably also the best time to leave the club. The chance to reach a climax.

Not for the first time, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis made overtures to Gasperini.

“I’ve thought about it,” he confided to Corriere dello Sport. “There were times when I thought the moment had come to say goodbye to Atalanta. I wanted to do it without controversy and, above all, without disappointment. In the end we won and Bergamo prevailed. (Antonio) Conte is in Naples now and I don’t think the fans can be upset about that.”

And yet: Who prevailed at the top of Serie A at the weekend? Atalanta have never been at the top at this point in the season. “Vin-ce-RE-mooo! Vin-ce-RE-moooo! Vin-ce-RE-mooo il tricolor!” The fans certainly sang after a 2-1 win over AC Milan last Friday evening. “We will win the title.”

It was not the first time that Gasperini was confronted with the question: “Is this your year?” Can you do it? He has repelled them in the past, even when Papu Gomez, Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic helped the team score more than 100 goals per season in all competitions.

Gasperini thought it was wishful thinking. The dizzying heights to which he allowed Atalanta to climb, in turn, led to a loss of perspective. Winning the league was not part of Atalanta’s tradition, unless it was Serie B. The wealth gap would inevitably be felt over a 38-game season. But on Friday, Gasperini turned to the fans and said: “Let them sing.” It was Atalanta’s record-breaking ninth consecutive win in the league.

During this time, in addition to Milan at home, they have also beaten Napoli and Roma away. Outside the big games, Atalanta have scored four goals against Lecce, five against Gasperini’s old club Genoa and six against Hellas Verona and Young Boys. They are the top scorers in Serie A and Scamacca’s replacement, Mateo Retegui, made the leap early on to become the season’s top scorer, the Capocannoniere.

No wonder people were betting against Madrid back then. The moment alone is not enough to explain the “electricity” Gasperini sensed in the atmosphere surrounding Tuesday’s game. Atalanta has now established itself in Europe. They have been coming back again and again for the last seven years. Every experience has made her better, stronger and more relaxed on this stage. As was the case when Inter returned from the Champions League final in 2023, strengthened by the belief that they could have defeated Man City, so Atalanta came back after the victory against Leverkusen with an aura, a new equipment, which in turn brought the series A lot has made things easier for them.

In the Curva Pisani there was a stage spectacle in the stands on Tuesday evening. It showed Gasperini as a knight on a white horse. The accompanying caption read: “Atalanta’s proud condottiero, you brought splendor and glory to Bergamo, Gian Piero Gasperini, forever in our history.” As much as Mbappe seemed to love playing against Atalanta, he succumbed to an injury shortly after Marco Carnesecchi prevented him from making it 2-0 against Real Madrid, and from then on the home team grew into the game.

Antonio Rüdiger had to slip twice in front of Mario Pasalic to prevent Lookman from creating early chances to equalize. Charles De Ketelaere then equalized from the penalty spot after a classic Gasperini move. De Ketelaere’s penalty was caused by Atalanta’s center back Saed Kolasinac, who shot into the penalty area after being tackled.

Still, Madrid it was Madrid and they looked like a team struggling to qualify against a previously undefeated top 8 Champions League side. The one-two punch from Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham for the goals that put Madrid ahead 2-1 and then 3-1 might have defeated other teams, but Atalanta, to use the Bergamasco dialect, Mola Mia (they give never open).

Ederson continued to swarm and the team’s bench, deeper than ever, allowed Atalanta to set the tone. New signings Lazar Samardzic, Odilon Kossounou, Retegui and Nico Zaniolo were added in the summer. Perhaps only Simone Inzaghi can rely on his coaching bench at Inter and count on more quality.

Lookman made it 3-2 with his 11th goal of the season and in extra time injury time thought he had scored a dramatic and deserved equaliser, but Retegui missed from point-blank range.

It was a reminder of a few things. First and foremost the development of Lookman, who finished 14th in the Ballon d’Or voting and remains favorite to succeed his compatriot Victor Osimhen in the African Footballer of the Year award later this month. Given his form, how is it possible that Retegui, the Capocannoniere in Serie A, missed a penalty in the 0-0 draw against Arsenal and then this chance against Madrid? If both had gotten in, only Liverpool would be ahead of Atalanta in the Champions League table.

“We can win these games,” Gasperini said. “That is the motivation that drives us.” It is also the level of consciousness that can produce a fairytale Scudetto. Atalanta is increasingly resembling Sampdoria in 1991. The Blucerchiati’s league title came after a similar eight-year period in which they reached the Coppa Italia final, won the Cup Winners’ Cup and built a mentality and drive that made the impossible possible.

Atalanta is now at that stage of maturity. They have even shown this season that they know how to suffer, having endured a difficult August when Koopmeiners and Lookman were upset about substitutions and Marten de Roon, a midfielder, and Matteo Ruggeri, a full-back, were forced into the Playing in a three-man chain.

All of this has made her stronger. The clash with Madrid will only strengthen Atalanta’s conviction. This team has what it takes. Even after the defeat, Atalanta seemed to be taking another step towards a greater future victory in Italy.

So, let the fans at Pisani sing defiantly. “Vin-ce-RE-mooo! Vin-ce-RE-moooo! Vin-ce-RE-mooo il tricolor!”

(Top photo: Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)