Atalanta Bergamo – Internazionale: Champions Relish In Risk-Averse Game State (0-2)

To make the title race even more exciting, Atalanta Bergamo had to beat their Inter hoodoo. Instead, Internazionale found routes through the man-to-man arrangement in ways that we have seen before. Perhaps Gian Piero Gasperini’s time in Bergamo will conclude without the fairytale ending.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

After nine years, Gasperini has placed a time stamp for the end of his extraordinary tenure: the end of this season or the next. To achieve a Scudetto victory would not only be the perfect note for Atalanta’s rise to the Italian elite, but Gasperini to complete a redemption arc of his own.

After all, it was a horrible couple of months at Inter that had defined his coaching career for a long time. A coach incapable of taking the big jobs, so Gasperini made a big club of his own: firmly built in his image and ideas, which have broken down the barriers one by one. Max Gallo’s editorial in Corriere dello Sport likened his development to that of Brian Clough; rejected after 44 days at Leeds, only to carry Nottingham Forest to back-to-back European Cups. Gasperini leading Atalanta to their Europa League triumph etched his tenure into eternity: if he could manufacture a Scudetto victory would produce the ultimate payback to a former employer.

The problem is that they have not beaten Inter since 2018. Even at the start of his time in Bergamo, one of Gasperini’s first tests was to face Simone . . .