The previous weekend's fixtures in Serie A -- including one of the most hotly anticipated showdowns in years between Juventus and Inter -- had taken place behind closed doors; their game in Valencia would be too. A former European champion, he fought his one world title fight against Carlos De Leon in Bergamo in 1985. Atalanta's president, Antonio Percassi, told the radio station RTL 102.5 on Saturday that "we have had eight cases of people who worked for Atalanta and that has been such a hard and sad thing." Even so, reality hit players hard upon their return.Hours after Atalanta departed, Italy's lockdown was expanded to cover the whole country. (Rafael Marchante/Pool via AP)Atalanta players react during the Champions League quarter-final soccer match between Atalanta and Paris Saint-Germain, at the Luz stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. “At this moment, it’s quite painful,” Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon said. Bergamo was part of a northern quarantine zone established by the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, on March 8, and the team required special dispensation to travel a day later. This Atalanta team will still be remembered as heroes by Colombo and all the club’s fans, having gifted the ‘Bergamaschi’ an unimaginable season of success in a year of such pain. … Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, kurz Atalanta B.C. "I have heard a lot [of theories for why the virus has spread so aggressively in the region], I'll say mine," Di Marco told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. Bergamo, home to Atalanta, has been hard hit in terms of confirmed positive cases and deaths, but the 40,000 fans who traveled to Milan for the first leg vs. Valencia on Feb. 19 game led to …
Bergamo mayor Giorgio Gori claims a Champions League match between Atalanta and Valencia in Italy ‘infected 40,000 fans’ in attendance. "Bergamo, this is for you," it read. (Rafael Marchante/Pool via AP)Connect with the definitive source for global and local news Some play video games. Although that game took place behind closed doors at the Mestalla, roughly 2,000 Valencia fans still gathered outside before kickoff to welcome their team. "Speaking from a footballing perspective, the memory of qualifying remains a happy one, even if today it all appears grey," said midfielder "I hope, with all my heart, that the things Atalanta have conquered recently can give our people a smile," Percassi said in his interview with RTL 102.5. Atalanta-Bergamo-Fans in Corona-Krise: Ultras als Helfer. More than 3,000 had travelled from Spain. We were so close, really close,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said.Atalanta took the lead at the Stadium of Light thanks to Mario Pašalić’s first-half goal, but Marquinhos equalized in the 90th and Eric Choupo-Moting scored the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.It was a heartbreaking finish to Atalanta’s first appearance in Europe’s top club competition, one that had grown bigger than sports after the coronavirus killed more than 6,000 in Bergamo. On March 10, the day of Atalanta's return game against Valencia, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the province rose to 1,472. The first leg took place on Feb. 19 in Milan in a match dubbed “Game Zero” because of the spread of the disease that followed both in northern Italy and in Spain.Images of a convoy of military trucks driving coffins out of the city of Bergamo because the crematorium couldn’t keep up were beamed around the world.“Tonight is not about a quarterfinal of a Champions League. "To arrive in a semi-deserted airport, when normally there would have been fans waiting for us, and then find the streets empty was a blow to the heart. "Still, soccer has its place, as the former Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi once described it: "the most important of the least important things." So already being here with our friends, having a pizza, hugging, laughing ... it feels like a dream, it feels like joy back again.”Atalanta reached the final eight with an 8-4 aggregate victory over Valencia in the round of 16. The first leg of that tie against Valencia took place at San Siro, in Milan. Official figures show that 2,050 people died of COVID-19 in the province of Bergamo in March, but an investigation by L'Eco Di Bergamo found that the true figure was likely twice as high, taking in people who died at home or in care facilities without ever receiving an official diagnosis. Before long it will all be back as it was before, or close to that, because this situation has taught us to give value to the things that previously we took for granted. He became the first person diagnosed with the virus in Lombardy. For the most part, his tone has remained positive, if often accompanied with reminders to his followers to "stay home." Asked by Gazzetta dello Sport what role soccer players could fill right now, De Roon replied bluntly: "A marginal one. Atalanta, an Italian team from a city of 120,000 people, had just gatecrashed the final eight of Europe's most prestigious club competition. By the time they arrived home, the government was drafting tighter restrictions, obliging the vast majority of businesses, besides food stores and pharmacies, to shut down. "Written in local dialect, that last phrase translates to "never give up". Goalkeeper A soccer club, though, is more than its players. He lost, but to the locals he would always remain their very own Muhammad Ali.Compounding the horror, doctors have now raised a grim possibility: that Atalanta's nights of European glory might directly have contributed to the virus's spread. In the meantime, the lives of professional athletes look the same as those of many other young people: stuck at home, fretting about more vulnerable loved ones and looking for ways to fill the time. Wing-back Nobody at Atalanta is kidding themselves as to their own importance. But "Today I went out after weeks to get some milk for Milo at the pharmacy," she wrote.