The small team from Bergamo, a city that was at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, is playing in the European competition for the first time this season and has been increasingly hard to beat in Serie A.
Despite a slow start in the group stage and the suspension caused by the pandemic, Atalanta has won nine straight matches � seven of them in the Italian league.

�Before we restarted after this enforced break we told ourselves we should make our Atalanta fans smile because they have suffered a lot,� said Mario Pa�ali?, a Croatian midfielder who had been on loan from Chelsea but joined permanently last month. �We�re doing it and we must continue doing it.�

Atalanta faced Valencia on Feb. 19 in Milan in a Champions League match that has been dubbed �Game Zero� because of the spread of the disease that followed both in northern Italy and in Spain.

Atalanta won that match 4-1 and then advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-3 victory at Valencia.

The rest of Atalanta�s matches in the competition will take place in Lisbon next month at a mini-tournament.
�It�s very difficult because the competition is of a scary level, but we have grown along the way, as in the league, and when the moment comes we will try to arrive there in the best way possible,� Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said. �It�s a unique chance.�

Atalanta�s past two home matches have demonstrated the team�s increased maturity as well as all its qualities on the field.