Even as some of the biggest football clubs pursue the hottest young managers — Vincent Kompany, Enzo Maresca, Kieran McKenna — ready to risk millions on their vision and philosophy of play, an old grandmaster continues to show how it’s done with limited resources.
At 66, Gian Piero Gasperini is having perhaps the finest of his 21 seasons as coach, his eighth at Atalanta which continues to defy football gravity as a low-budget provincial club in the hotbed of northern Italy. In the Europa League final last week, Atalanta stopped Bayer Leverkusen’s shot at European football immortality and lifted its first top-level trophy for 61 years.
At long last: Gasperini helped Atalanta end a six-decade wait for a top-level trophy after a memorable campaign in the Europa League. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Silverware in a golden era
And as a sprightly Gasperini — his black rain jacket zipped high against the Dublin evening chill — danced with his players and staff, the enormity of the achievement dawned not just on the thousands clad in blue and black that had made the trip from northern Italy but also on neutral fans and connoisseurs of attacking football.
The side from Bergamo, in the foothills of the Italian Alps, has long lived in the shadow of nearby giants AC and Inter Milan. But it has enjoyed a golden era under Gasperini, reaching the Champions League on four occasions, and now has silverware to show for it. It was a rare victory for the underdog in a sport usually dominated by the clubs with the deepest pockets.
“To win it with Atalanta is perhaps one of the football fairytales that rarely gives scope for meritocracy,” said Gasperini. “There’s still room for ideas, it doesn’t always come down to cold hard numbers or super leagues but shows teams without huge budgets can achieve big things.
“We needed to be attacking. You can’t just defend in matches like this. Everyone was extraordinary. The way we did it was the most important thing, we deserved it without a shadow of a doubt. We’re so happy because to win the Europa League is a huge achievement for us.”
The 3-0 win over Leverkusen, which was unbeaten in 51 games in all competitions until then, featured Gasperini’s football ideas at their finest. In contrast to the image of the cliched defence-minded Italian manager, the 66-year-old coaches a fluid-passing attacking style.
Gasperini’s teams, almost always set up in some variation of a 3-4-3, play out from the back, look to progress the ball with quick combinations and press to regain the ball when they lose it. The result is easy-on-the-eye football in attack and team-first defence.
“They play one against one on the whole pitch,” said Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick. “Wherever you move, you have one defender behind you, so they don’t leave you the space to breathe.”
Many of Gasperini’s Atalanta sides since 2016 have showcased cutting-edge tactics. Elite, imaginative coaching is one of the ways in which Gasperini has attempted to close the gap to Italy and Europe’s wealthiest clubs — he looks to compensate for Atalanta’s relative lack of financial resources with a richness of ideas.
Reinforcing ideas
Gasperini drives his players incredibly hard in training, ensuring the ideas are ingrained and matches feel easier as a result. As he once said: “Defending makes you invincible, but if you want to win, you must attack. This sums up the spirit and mentality I want my team to have. The identity you create in a team must always be reinforced. You must grow and improve, day by day, because if you do not improve, you are done. Those who stop have lost.”
Always driving forward: Gasperini’s willingness to take risks with an attacking brand of football has paid off for Atalanta. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Atalanta’s Europa League win was also significant because he outwitted Xabi Alonso, who, along with Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, is the most prominent example of the gamble on a young manager that has paid off. Alonso has led Leverkusen to an instant classic football story in his first full season in the job at age 42, ending Bayern Munich’s monopoly of the Bundesliga.
But Gasperini had Alonso’s measure, his Atalanta looking far slicker than the German league champion. The Italian mastermind’s willingness to take risks with an attacking brand of football earned Alonso’s admiration. “We know for five years that Atalanta has had a very clear identity. It’s a team that continues to press but they are not always gung-ho,” Alonso said. “He has a clear plan and has built up a team with strong mentality and high quality.”
Gasperini said Atalanta’s “world has changed” since he took over eight years ago. Back then just surviving in Serie A was a success. The club had not played in a European competition for the 25 previous seasons before he was appointed. Now, continental football is commonplace, and Atalanta has enjoyed some of its finest ever nights this season, knocking out European giants Liverpool and Marseille on the road to Dublin before scripting a triumph for the ages.
In reconstructing Atalanta from a relegation candidate to a team that can win the Europa League or reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League (2019-20), Gasperini has overseen a revolution that has not always attracted the praise it deserves. Both club and manager don’t mind flying under the radar; it’s one of many traits they have in common.
Gasperini, who lasted just five games at Inter Milan in 2011, has benefited from Atalanta’s trust. It stood by him when he lost four of his first five league games in charge in 2016 and he has rewarded it with some of its most memorable years. “The club believed in me when I wasn’t highly rated and that’s a great example for football,” he said.
Polishing diamonds
The performances Gasperini has extracted from undervalued players and the success of the club’s academy have helped finance the renovation of Atalanta’s Gewiss Stadium and laid the foundation for a secure future. Europa League final hero Ademola Lookman is not the only rough diamond Gasperini has polished to turn Atalanta into a force in Serie A and on the continent.
Gasperini’s savvy recruitment and excellent coaching are evident right across the front three — Lookman has formed a fearsome attacking trident with Charles De Ketelaere and Gianluca Scamacca, transformed after their difficult spells at AC Milan and West Ham respectively.
Given Gasperini’s accomplishments, it’s not surprising that he is drawing other suitors. His future has been the hot topic in Bergamo, with persistent rumours of talks with Napoli, which had a dismal campaign as defending champion.
Gasperini had described Napoli as a beautiful woman tempting him away from his wife, but after the 3-0 win over Torino last weekend, he confirmed that he plans to stay at the club, much to the relief of the fans. “I am tied to Atalanta and will continue to be,” Gasperini said. “I am faithful.”
Content Source: www.thehindu.com