The queen of the provincial clubs was crowned Europa League winners last season. Yet Atalanta have rarely been mentioned alongside the established Italian football royalty.
The Bergamo side had only claimed one domestic trophy before stunning Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin. Despite the relative lack of success plenty of recognizable names have featured for Atalanta in their 117-year history.
I decided on an offensive minded blend of players from three different generations. It’s a combination of hair and flair which includes two forwards from the era of notoriously demanding master tactician Gian Piero Gasperini.
Pierluigi Pizzaballa (1958-1966 & 1976-1980)
A local hero that made his debut for La Dea at the age of 18 and finished an extensive career at his home-town club 23 years later.
The instinctive shot-stopper made 156 appearances in two separate stints at his home-town club. The man with the distinctive surname more than made up for his relatively short stature (5ft 9in) by consistently putting his body on the line when it mattered.
In a time when referees offered scant protection to goalkeepers the Bergamo native played with an aggressive, fearless attitude. He played a significant role as the men from Lombardy defeated Torino 3-1 to win the Coppa Italia in 1963. It was the club’s first major honour, and he deserves the number one spot in my team for his cup final contribution, longevity, and loyalty.
He became famous in Italy for his elusive Panini sticker. Injured ahead of the 1963-1964 season he was missing when the photographer from the Modena based company travelled north to Bergamo.
Although he had his picture taken shortly afterwards it left thousands of frustrated collectors searching for the first sticker in the first team of their albums.
Glenn Stromberg (1984-1992)
The Swede with the flowing blonde locks made an indelible impression in eight years with the Bergamo club. He is still fondly remembered as Il Capitano by La Dea supporters.
It wasn’t always easy for the imposing midfielder who had to endure taunts from opposition fans, as well as his own, about his appearance. Yet the Gothenburg-born player eventually became such an idol that some rather fancifully said he resembled the Goddess in the club’s striking logo.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that skilful, strong running Scandinavian with an eye for goal will be remembered as one of the club’s all-time greats. He thrived in the centre of a midfield block but was also deployed as a sweeper and I’m putting him just in front of Pizzaballa in my team.
The hirsute Scandinavian wore the black and blue shirt 219 times and claimed 18 goals, settling down to live in Bergamo after retiring.
He was part of the team which lost to Diego Maradona’s Napoli in the 1987 Coppa Italia final. A year later the Lombardy club were relegated but he opted to stay as La Dea reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup while in the second tier.
Papu Gomez (2014-2021)
The chief orchestrator in the initial stages of the Gasperini revolution.
A magical provider and deadly goalscorer, he twisted opposition defenders inside out as the provincial upstarts from Bergamo upset the established order.
While it may be stretching the definition of nostalgia to include a player that featured for La Dea just a few years ago, there was no way I could leave him out of my team. A supreme picker of passes, the little Argentine was equally content setting up his team-mates as he was thumping a screamer into the top corner.
In the enclosed spaces of a five-a-side pitch the playmaker with everything in his locker would thrive. The Serie A assists leader from 2018-2020 propelled the outsiders to unprecedented heights.
His creative vision inspired the men in black and blue to three consecutive third place finishes in the Italian top flight. The underdogs were just minutes away from making the semi-finals of the Champions League before a late Paris Saint-Germain comeback in 2020. The dynamic attacker left the club on bad terms after a fall out with Gasperini, but I think he would be back in trademark hip swaying celebration mode after plundering a host of spectacular strikes in my fives side.
Josip Ilicic (2017-2022)
At his wondrous peak, the Slovenian curled in sublime goals from improbable positions as if starring in his own video game.
For his flicks, feints, back-heels, and drag-backs the languid winger would excel in any five-a-side team. Although you don’t have to find old black-and-white videos to watch his incredible highlights, I couldn’t resist pairing him with old team-mate Gomez.
A return to smaller pitches makes sense for the majestic dribbler who grew up playing futsal. Although he favoured his left, the flexible forward was comfortable with either foot and would be free to roam anywhere in my ultra-attacking fives line-up.
After spells at Palermo and Fiorentina he played the best football of his career in five years at the Lombardy based club.
He registered double figure goal tallies in his first three campaigns under Gasperini and was named in the Serie A team of the season in 2018-2019. The Slovenian netted four goals in a brilliant individual display as La Dea eliminated Valencia in Spain to advance to the last eight of the Champions League in March 2020.
Nicknamed Il Professore he gave lessons on how to weave through the most resilient backlines in an often thrilling tenure in Bergamo.
Claudio Caniggia (1989-1992 & 1999-2000)
Combine the look of a hair metal band front man and the speed of an international sprinter and you have the unique Argentinian striker.
Although not the most prolific goalscorer I chose the blonde bomber for his ability to rapidly shift gears and leave opposition defenders gasping for air. I would back him to motor past anyone and find the net regularly in the shrunken adaptation of the beautiful game.
He was La Dea’s leading scorer as they placed seventh when Serie A was indisputably the best league in the world in 1989-1990. The South American was also part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in the next campaign.
In the final stages of his career, he returned to Bergamo for a season to help the club gain promotion back to the top flight.
While Cristiano Doni, Maurizio Ganz and Duvan Zupata all deserve a name check, the tantalising prospect of a fives team which reunites the Argentinian and Stromberg was impossible to turn down.
In the tight confines of the five-a-side back and forth, the sight of the hypnotizing blonde blur at full pace would be too much for most opponents.
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