Atalanta received a hero's welcome on Sunday. The Europa League champions defeated Torino 3-0 in a festive homecoming following their stunning victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin.
Rain and storms have battered northern Italy for most of a wet spring. Still, the sun shone brightly on the Gewiss Stadium as fans cheered on the team that defeated Leverkusen by the same score in the Europa League final.
After winning their first European trophy -- their first significant honor of any kind since 1963 -- and qualifying for the Champions League, Atalanta could have been forgiven for going through the motions in a party setting.
Instead, Gian Piero Gasperini's side thrashed Torino, moving up to fourth and giving themselves a chance to equal their best-ever third-place finish by winning next weekend's game against Fiorentina.
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Atalanta's raucous home crowd chanted, "We're the champions of Europe!" at the end of a typically swashbuckling performance against sorry Torino before the team paraded the Europa League trophy on the pitch to further chants of "thank you, lads."
Gasperini's future has been a hot topic in Bergamo, with persistent rumors of talks with Napoli. The defending champions ended their disappointing season with a goalless draw against Lecce.
The 66-year-old, who has been in charge since 2016, had previously described Napoli as a beautiful woman luring him away from his wife, but after Sunday's victory, he confirmed that he would remain faithful.
"After eight years you can get to the stage when you feel some tiredness and think that maybe next year is the time to make a change," Gasperini told DAZN.
"It's normal that both sides take time to think about these things. But we're going to continue together and we're all happy about it."
After Gasperini held the trophy aloft to huge cheers, the crowd belted out a chant of "We're gonna win the league!"
"Fans need to dream. It's right that they dream big, but if you ask me if we can win the Scudetto I have to say no," a realistic Gasperini told reporters.
