Last time out we secured Atalanta’s first-ever Champions Cup triumph, alongside wrapping up a second consecutive Serie A success. Now we look to defend both titles, alongside making the club’s first appearance in the Club World Cup.
The summer of 2025 saw us bring in a whole host of exciting new youngsters, the pick of which were Brazilian striker Dimba and Colombian winger Luis Collazos.
There were several outgoings too, the biggest of which was winger Alessandro Zanelli – who’d scored 10 goals in 24 league games the previous season – joining Tottenham Hotspur for £50 million. Young striker Francois Minala drew plenty of attention and, not convinced he’d make it at the club, I let him go to Borussia Monchengladbach for a potential £17 million. And backup goalkeeper Guilherme Freitas moved on to Werder Bremen for £9 million, with academy product Moreno Cermesoni stepping up to the first team.
The season began by securing another piece of silverware, as we wrapped up a first-ever European Super Cup victory. We absolutely dominated Hertha BSC, winning 4-0 through goals from exciting young midfielder Timmi Uldbjerg, backup striker Milovan Timotijevic and a brace from winger Amad Diallo Traore – who was in the club’s academy at the very start of the game.
And league form was once again strong at the start of the season with three straight wins without conceding, then a 0-0 draw at Empoli was followed by a 2-1 defeat at Fiorentina, who have a couple of world-class attacking midfielder regens in their ranks.
The boys reacted well, going on a run of seven straight league wins before a 1-1 home draw with Roma in late November. Three more league draws followed before the end of the year, which saw us go into 2026 in second place behind Inter Milan.
Our defence of the Champions Cup saw us handed a tough draw alongside Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal and Besiktas in the Group Stage. We began well with a 3-0 win at home to Leverkusen and a 3-2 win at Arsenal, thanks to a Cosimo Marco Da Graca brace, then drew 1-1 at Besiktas.
The return game at home to the Turkish side ended in a 3-1 win, but we then went and lost both of our last two matches in Leverkusen then at home to Arsenal. We managed to just about scrape through to the knockout stages, one point clear of Leverkusen.
With qualification secured, attention turned to a first-ever appearance at the Club World Cup. The semi-finals saw us go up against Australian side Melbourne City, who we dismissed with ease 4-1, thanks to a brace from Diallo Traore and goals from Antonio Marin and Da Graca.
That took us to the Final, where we were up against Argentina’s Boca Juniors. They put up even less of a fight as a Da Graca hat-trick led us to a 5-0 victory, with further goals from Uldbjerg and Marin. Little Atalanta were World Champions!!
Join us next time as we look to overhaul Inter in search of a third Serie A title and move into the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
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