The queen of the provincial clubs were crowned Europa League winners last season. Yet Atalanta have rarely been mentioned alongside the established Italian football royalty, the Bergamo side claiming just one domestic trophy before stunning Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin.
Despite this relative lack of success, plenty of recognisable names have featured for Atalanta in their 117-year history. I decided on an offensive-minded blend of players from three different generations, a combination of hair and flair which includes two forwards from the era of the notoriously demanding master tactician, Gian Piero Gasperini.
Pierluigi Pizzaballa (1958-66 and 1976-80)
A local hero who made his debut for La Dea at the age of 18 and finished an extensive career at his home-town club 23 years later. The instinctive shot-stopper with the distinctive surname more than made up for his relatively short stature (5ft9in) by consistently putting his body on the line when it mattered.
In a time when referees offered scant protection to goalkeepers, the Bergamo native was renowned for an aggressive, fearless attitude. He played a significant role as Atalanta defeated Torino 3-1 to win the Coppa Italia in 1963, the club’s first major honour, and he deserves the No 1 spot in my team for his Cup final contribution, longevity, and loyalty.
He also became famous in Italy for his elusive Panini sticker. Injured before the 1963-1964 season, he was missing when the photographer from the Modena-based company travelled north to Bergamo. Although he had his picture taken shortly afterwards it left thousands of frustrated collectors searching for the first sticker in the first team of their albums.
Glenn Strömberg (1984-92)
The Swede with the flowing blonde locks made an indelible impression in eight years with the Bergamo club – he is still fondly remembered as Il Capitano by La Dea supporters. It wasn’t always easy for the imposing midfielder who had to endure taunts from opposition fans, as well as his own, about his appearance. Yet the Gothenburg-born player eventually became such an idol that some rather fancifully said he resembled the goddess in the club’s striking logo.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that skilful, strong-running Scandinavian with an eye for goal will be remembered as one of the club’s all-time greats. Strömberg thrived in the centre of a midfield block but was also deployed as a sweeper and I’m putting him just in front of Pizzaballa in my team.
Strömberg wore the black and blue shirt 219 times and claimed 18 goals, settling down to live in Bergamo after retiring. He was part of the team which lost to Napoli and Diego Maradona in the 1987 Coppa Italia final and, though a year later the Lombardy club were relegated, he opted to stay as La Dea reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup while in the second tier.
Papu Gómez (2014-21)
Gómez was the chief orchestrator in the initial stages of the Gasperini revolution. A magical provider and deadly goalscorer, he twisted opposition defenders inside out as the provincial upstarts from Bergamo upset the established order.
While it may be stretching the definition of nostalgia to include a player that featured for La Dea just a few years ago, there was no way I could leave Gómez out of my team. A supreme picker of passes, the little Argentinian was equally content setting up teammates as he was thumping a screamer into the top corner.
In the enclosed spaces of a five-a-side pitch the playmaker with everything in his locker would thrive. The Serie A assists leader from 2018-2020 propelled the outsiders to unprecedented heights, his Gómez’s creative vision inspiring Atalanta to three consecutive third-place finishes, and the underdogs were just minutes away from making the semi-finals of the Champions League before a late Paris Saint-Germain comeback in 2020. The dynamic attacker left the club on bad terms after a fall out with Gasperini, but he would be back in trademark hip-swaying celebration mode in my five-a-side team.
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Josip Ilicic (2017-22)
At his wondrous peak, the Slovenian curled in sublime goals from improbable positions as if starring in his own video game, his flicks, feints, back-heels and drag-backs allowing the languid winger to excel in any five-a-side team. Although you don’t have to find old black-and-white videos to watch his incredible highlights, I couldn’t resist pairing Ilicic with his old team-mate Gómez.
A return to smaller pitches makes sense for a majestic dribbler who grew up playing futsal. Although he favoured his left, Ilicic was comfortable with either foot and would be free to roam anywhere in my ultra-attacking fives line-up.
After spells at Palermo and Fiorentina he played the best football of his career in five years at the Lombardy-based club, registering double-figure goal tallies in his first three campaigns under Gasperini and named in the 2018-19 Serie A team of the season. Ilicic netted four goals in a brilliant individual display as La Dea eliminated Valencia to advance to the last eight of the Champions League in March 2020. Nicknamed Il Professore, he gave lessons on how to weave through the most resilient backlines.
Claudio Caniggia (1989-92 and 1999-2000)
Combine the look of a hair metal band front man with the speed of an international sprinter and you have Caniggia, the unique Argentinian striker. Although not the most prolific goalscorer I chose the blonde bomber for his ability to rapidly shift gears and leave opposition defenders gasping for air. I would back him to motor past anyone and find the net regularly in the shrunken adaptation of the beautiful game.
Caniggia was La Dea’s leading scorer when they finished seventh in 1989-90, when Serie A was indisputably the best league in the world, and he was also part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the following season’s Uefa Cup.
In the final stages of his career, he returned to Bergamo to help the club gain promotion back to the top flight and, though Cristiano Doni, Maurizio Ganz and Duván Zapata all deserve a name check, the tantalising prospect of a fives team which reunites the Argentinian with Strömberg was impossible to turn down.
