Serie A: Atalanta’s success turns to grief following coronavirus outbreak

Atalanta were having a fairy-tale season in Serie A and the Champions League. The deaths of so many of the Italian city’s residents has turned joy into tragedy.

This was supposed to be the year Atalanta could win the Serie A title. It was also the season where the team, based in the northern Italian city of Bergamo, was easily on their way to becoming the Cinderella story of the Champions League. They had instantly become everyone’s second-favorite team to root for this spring.

Instead of celebrating victories, the city, along with the rest of the country and now the world, has had to come to grips with death. While Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic continues to rise, Bergamo is among the cities with the largest amount of casualties.

The fear that has already taken over the world as a result of COVID-19 has never been more real for Bergamo, their beloved soccer team and their most-recent Champions League opponent.

In UEFA’s zeal to keep the ball rolling on the tournament, the match between Atalanta and Valencia (the second leg won by the Italian club 4-3 to advance to the quarterfinals) may have led to more problems.

Health experts have speculated that the first-leg match between Atalanta and Valencia, played on February 19 at Milan’s San Siro Stadium, may have been where the outbreak spread even further. It was just days later that the region was considered a “high-risk” zone for the contagion.

Atalanta’s players are currently in quarantine as five of Valencia’s players tested positive for coronavirus. The second leg, played behind closed doors at the Mestalla in Valencia, saw Atalanta striker Josip Ilicic score four goals. He recently donated the ball to a hospital in Bergamo.

Atalanta’s players had been happy to give their residents joy after that March 10 game. Two weeks later, the situation in Bergamo and throughout Europe and North America, has grown worse.

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Italy has been in total lockdown for three weeks as the coronavirus spread continues. Serie A, the Champions League and most sports leagues throughout the world are on hold as the pandemic continues to spread.

League officials in Italy hope to restart the domestic season sometime this spring and could now stretch into the summer.

Atalanta, fourth in the Serie A standings before the season was halted, were scheduled to resume training, but that was put on hold after the Valencia players tested positive. Damiano Tomassi, president of the association that represents Serie A players, said it is “dangerous” for players to resume training.

Tomassi, a former Roma player, warned: “I hope that soon we can return to play because soccer will be a thermometer of society. When the ball starts moving again, we will almost be out of this nightmare. I find it better to say that we won’t recover until a certain date, rather than indicating a certain day.”

He added: “Whoever thinks of benefitting by training their team, I don’t know what they have in their minds. I say this without wanting to create controversy because this is not the moment to spark it. Training now, before the season resumes, doesn’t make sense. It’s also dangerous.”

Indeed, joy has been transformed to fear. The danger of this pandemic is very real. Atalanta winning big games had become the new norm. Everyone now is waiting for the day life can get back to normal.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.