If the fourth-placed Serie A scorer against Young Boys, the top scorer is unlikely to be an Italian.
Legend:
Colombia (Zapata), the heart of Denmark (Mahle) and Croatia (Pasalik)
Torjubel in Bergamo.
Keystone
There were only two Italians in Atalanta’s starting lineup last Saturday in their 5-2 home win over Spezia Calcio. A handful of goals have been scored by others. For comparison: in the last Young Boys championship match, there were 8 Swiss players on the field at the start of the match. The current champions are also the front-runners in the current Premier League season when it comes to playing time for local players.
The whole world for Atalanta
The situation is different in Bergamo: only a fifth of the running time in the 21/22 season is counted by the Italians. This value is not uncommon, as a look at the penultimate season confirms: at that time, the Bergamasken team, fearing for offensive football, scored 98 goals in the Italian league, but none of them scored any of the domestic goals.
Instead, as in the previous home game, it is the players from South America or Eastern Europe who score for ‘La Dea’. From the offensive midfield formed by Mario Pasalic (Croatia) and Josip Ilicic (Slovenia), the former scored two goals. And during the storm, Colombians Duvan Zapata and Luis Morell and Ukraine’s Ruslan Malinovsky ensured a clear end result.
Bergamo: Where talent and no-names mature
As it is part of Atalanta’s system of opening the game from a series of three, it is also part of the North Italians’ system of integrating talent or no-names into the team thanks to a good scouting network and a far-sighted transfer policy.
The best example of this was the recent departure of Christian Romero to Tottenham. This was compensated by the loan of Juventus defender Merih Demiral. The 23-year-old is an incredible talent, but has never had a chance to prove himself with the “old lady” behind the tireless Giorgio Chiellini. As with the previous Torinese Romero, Bergamo also had a buy-to-let option with the Turks and thus the opportunity for subsequent revenue.
Joachim Mahle, another defensive specialist, has proven that in addition to talent, No Names is also formed in the ranks of Atalanta’s top internationals. In Bergamo, the Dane, who comes from Genk, has been part of the main body for a long time and, with Denmark, with 5 goals, played an important role in the Sovereign World Cup qualifiers.
