How Atalanta became the most entertaining team in Europe

The small provincial city of Bergamo, 25 miles north east of Milan and 19 miles from Swiss alpine lakes, is the unlikely home to one of Europe's most thrilling football teams.

Only PSG and Bayern Munich have scored more goals than Atalanta, who are not just punching above their weight but also landing knockout blows this season.

They are shaking up the status quo in Italy and making their mark on the biggest stage with one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Gian Piero Gasperini's men take a 4-1 lead to Valencia for the second leg of their last 16 tie on Tuesday night and it seems their incredible rise will continue a step further.

Atalanta finished third in Serie A last season and are currently fourth ahead of the likes of Roma and Napoli with more goals than any other team in Italy.

Their remarkable ascent has the established heavyweights rattled and Juventus president Andrea Agnelli lashed out last week, saying: 'I have a lot of respect for Atalanta, but they got into the Champions League on the back of one good season and without any history of international competition.

'Is that fair? Take Roma, who over the last few years have contributed to maintaining Italy’s high UEFA ranking and yet miss out because of one bad season, with all of the financial implications that brings. We have to protect investments.

'The point is how we balance the contribution to European football and the performance of a single year.'

Atalanta have the big boys looking over their shoulders and Bergamo's mayor hit back at Agnelli with a withering response.

'Instead of the rich and famous elite, I much prefer the outcome on the pitch and the merits of who, while representing 'only' a provincial city, have earned their place in Europe with sweat and imagination. It's called SPORT,' Giorgio Gori said.

Sweat and imagination. That just about sums it up. How else can a team with scant resources compete with the financial muscle of huge sides and superior playing squads?

But it isn't just the overachieving that sets Atalanta apart, it is the fact that they're doing it in style.

Josip Ilicic has 17 goals in all competitions, Duvan Zapata has 15 and Luis Muriel boasts 14 of his own.

The attacking prowess is undeniable but by no means the full story.

Gasperini is of course the mastermind behind Atalanta's fluid, swashbuckling approach but he almost found found himself out of a job before he'd really started.

'I was on the verge of being sacked, it's true', the 62-year-old previously explained.

He lost four out of his first five games in charge before a daunting game against Napoli, who were the only remaining unbeaten side back in 2016.

Then the manager took a gigantic risk, one that would kick start his Atalanta career.

'I decided to play Mattia Caldara and Roberto Gagliardini [against Napoli]. I told the president my formation the day before and he was shaken to the point of not sleeping, but I'd made up my mind because I'd seen them in training.'

Caldara and Gagliardini were both young and untested but helped the underdogs clinch a vital 1-0 win to save Gasperini.

The injection of youth would become a key characteristic and Atalanta are a club tailor made for this approach, boasting one of the best academy systems in Europe.

Alberto Pasini, the club's Under-19's coach, told sideaita: 'Atalanta are very good in finding and choosing really talented young players.

'We have not a magical wand that makes them becoming good players from one day to another: our scouting network is a real excellence, and this makes everything easier for all of us in the academy. In addition, I think that another element that contributes is that our main goal as academy is to form good players and not to win matches or competitions.'

Talented youngsters are given every opportunity to make it into Atalanta's first team but a key part of the club's sustained success over the last two years has been Gasperini putting his system before any individual player.

Gagliardini, Franck Kessie, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante were all sold for huge profits

Even highly-rated winger Dejan Kulusevski was not deemed a fit for Gasperini's system and having joined from Swedish club Brommapojkarna for a pittance, he's been loaned to Parma then sold to Juventus for £29million.

Many predicted the departures of key players would lead to a downturn for La Dea but they are canny operators in the transfer market and Gasperini's philosophy is king.

He needs players to suit an energetic, pressing style. The former Inter Milan and Genoa boss is unwavering in his formation having three at the back.

Atalanta switch between 3-4-3, 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 depending on the opposition.

The full-backs are pushed wide and front players remain central, congesting the box and offering sharp combinations between each other.

Central to this formula is Alejandro Gomez, the 5ft4in magician in attacking midfield links play brilliantly and uses his low centre of gravity to go past players and deliver high quality service to the front men.

He has seven goals and 11 assists this season and carries a significant amount of the creative responsibility.

Clearly for Atalanta to play their exhaustive attacking game there need to be sacrifices made elsewhere on the pitch.

The midfield is workmanlike with Hans Hateboer, Marten de Roon and Remo Freuler running themselves into the ground for the attacking players to flourish in much the same way as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.

Gasperini encourages his defenders to play out from the back but has out-balls to Ilicic if forced to go long. The whole-hearted commitment to attack does of course come with risk and an element of defensive fragility but that only makes Atalanta a more captivating watch.

The variety in the attacking players provides a great balance too. Ilicic is a clever, powerful centre-forward, Gomez a diminutive, intelligent threat and Zapata a supreme athlete with pace to burn. Usually one of the strikers will make way for Muriel, who is a live-wire off the bench, so opposition defences must pick their poison.

Unless Valencia can conjure a miraculous recovery, the Italian upstarts will find themselves matched against one of Europe's superpowers in the next round and will offer a beacon of hope to teams of similarly small stature but lofty ambitions.

If free-wheeling Atalanta are the blueprint for lesser clubs to compete with the elite then football will be the better for it.

The men from Bergamo and their bold manager are on the brink of rarefied air in the Champions League's last eight. Sweat and imagination can go a long way.