In this save, we’re embarking on a nostalgic adventure with the brand new 1994/95 database from The Mad Scientist, which is currently available in Early Access mode. In Part 1 of Golazzo, we set the scene for the 1994/94 season, including the best players in Serie A and around the world.
Heading back 30 years in time, Atalanta have just been relegated from the greatest league in the world, Italy’s Serie A, and are red-hot favourites to be promoted at the first time of asking. To achieve that aim, the club took a massive gamble by turning to a rookie local football lover to deliver a change in fortunes – Bergamo-born coach Roberto Lombardi.
Lombardi walks into a club with a wealth of talent led by centre back Paolo Montero, striker Maurizio Ganz, goalkeeper Fabrizio Ferron and midfielders Daniele Fortunato, 28-time capped Argentina international Leo Rodriguez and Valter Bonacina. He also had exciting talents like 18-year-old attacker Domenico Morfeo, strikers Tomas Locatelli and Championship Manager legend Fausto Rossini, centre backs Marco Zanchi and Fabio Rustico, and the Zenoni brothers midfielder Damiano and right back Cristian.
Atalanta has a bank balance of £8.2m, a transfer budget of £3m and is spending £86k of its £286k weekly wage budget. However, Lombardi couldn’t do much about buying players until he had staff members. So his first priority was to put adverts out and recruit an entirely new staff, then set up recruitment focuses. He made around £3.5m in sales and invested half of that in 20-year-old model citizen striker Vincenzo Montella from Serie C side Empoli.
Lombardi decided to line up in a classic 3-5-2 attacking (which I loved on the early Championship Managers). And the attacking trio of Morfeo, Montella and Ganz should rip this division up.
Getting Started In Italy
Lombardi’s reign began with a 2-0 Coppa Italia 1st round win at Serie C Bologna. But any hopes of a cup run ended with defeat to a strong Fiorentina side led by the mighty Gabriel Batistuta.
Atalanta were 3/10 favourites to win Serie B had of fellow relegated sides Udinese, Piacenza, Lecce and Salernitana (11/4, 6/1, 11/1 and 13/1), Cesena (5/1), Ancona (10/1) and Palermo (13/1). And 5 Atalanta players (Ferron, Montero, Fortunato, Rodriguez and Ganz) made the media’s dream 11.
Atalanta made a statement in the season opener, going to Chievo and winning 5-1 through Ganz, a Rodriguez brace, Morfeo and debutant Montella. They weren’t quite as good in Lombardi’s home debut as Ganz’s goal rescued a 1-1 against Perugia. Another impressive away day saw Morfeo score twice in a 6-2 thrashing of Ancona, followed by a big first home win as Montella scored twice in a 4-0 success over Verona. And they went top of the table for the first time with a 4-1 victory at rivals Vicenza.
The strong start continued unabated, including Montella’s hat trick downing Udinese 5-2 and Rodriguez repeating the feat in a 5-1 hammering of Salernitana, before they finally suffered defeat after 12 games at Venezia. They responded in typically free-scoring fashion with a 5-2 win at Ascoli, which sent them on a superb 11-game winning streak to go 14 points clear heading into the new year.
Targeting The Title
January 2024 was a bit of a nightmare as Atalanta faced a mass of derogatory bids for their players, who got unhappy as a result. While the staff Lombardi had compiled over the summer got poached by Serie A sides. However, they did manage to keep hold of most of their key players.
And with their now relatively threadbare squad still mostly intact, Atalanta continued to dominate the league. Rodriguez scored twice in a 4-1 win at home to Lecce to take them 21 points clear with 10 games remaining. A week later, Montella’s double led a 3-1 victory at home to Piacenza, which secured promotion in late February!
Another week later, they went to Palermo knowing a win would secure the Serie B title. They started well as Rodriguez’s 20th of the season put them in front inside 3 minutes before drilling in his 2nd just before halftime. Montella put the result beyond doubt as he turned home Morfeo’s late cross, and it should have been more before Palermo got one back.
That game epitomised the domination Atalanta had enjoyed all season and they didn’t let up, including finishing the season with a 7-1 battering of Pescara. That saw Atalanta win the title by 30 points, finishing on 101 points after 32 wins, 5 draws and just 1 defeat, scoring 116 and conceding 37. Their domination showed with Montella, Ganz and Rodriguez being the top 3 scorers (31, 29 and 28 goals) and getting the top 3 average ratings (7.65, 7.91 and 7.65). Ganz also topped the assists chart with 17, followed by Morfeo with 14, which meant he racked up a ridiculous 46 goal contributions in 35 games.
Taking Atalanta In The Right Direction
Atalanta enjoyed a magnificent first season under Lombardi, strolling to the league title and scoring goals for fun. Montella, Ganz and Morfeo did indeed destroy Serie B with the assistance of Rodriguez. The quartet racked up a combined 101 goals and 52 assists, led by Ganz’s 30 goals and 17 assists, Montella’s 31 goals and 9 assists and Rodriguez’s 28 goals and 12 assists.
Lombardi’s hopes were boosted by an outstanding first youth intake – which includes real-life regens. The star of the intake was probably left back Pierre Giorgio Regonesi, who failed to deliver his potential in real life but looks brilliant and has already become the club’s youngest player and goalscorer, along with attackers Luca Saudati (who I vaguely remember from early CMs/FMs) and Matteo Ferrato, centre back Giuseppe Biava and goalkeeper Luigi Fanelli.
Lombardi had plenty of work to do to get Atalanta ready to survive in the world’s best league, Serie A. However, there would be plenty of movement in his first full summer in charge. So would any exciting names be arriving? Join us on Saturday, which will become the new regular posting slot for this save, to find out!
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