"The sky is black and blue over Dublin"... two years later!
Reliving a night that became history
Two years…
And yet there are emotions that time will never wear away.
Dublin is still there. In the images of the Aviva Stadium lit beneath the Irish sky, in the reflections of the trophy lifted at the end of the final, in that suspended feeling that belongs only to moments destined to enter history.
Two years on, 22 May still holds — and always will hold — a special place in Nerazzurri memory. Not simply as a date, nor as just another European night woven into Atalanta’s history, but as the night: the one in which Atalanta climbed to the top of Europe, giving Bergamo and all its fans a chapter destined to remain forever among the most iconic in European football history.
Like every great epic, it all begins with a “call to adventure”. For Atalanta, that call came on 1 September 2023 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo: Raków Częstochowa, Sporting CP and Sturm Graz were drawn alongside the Nerazzurri in Group D of the final traditional Europa League group stage before the introduction of the League Phase the following season.
The opening chapter of a European campaign that culminated in top spot in the group with 14 points. Then, on 23 February 2024 at 12:00 CET, came the first real crossroads on the “Road to the Final”: Sporting CP once again, already faced a few months earlier in the group stage.
After overcoming the Portuguese side 3-2 on aggregate between Lisbon and Bergamo, March opened the gates of Anfield and Liverpool for the Nerazzurri. Another night destined to become part of Atalanta’s European history: the 3-0 win in England laid the foundations for progression, before the Reds’ 1-0 victory in Bergamo ultimately proved not enough to overturn the tie.
With the English chapter behind them, May brought a French challenge in the semi-finals against Olympique Marseille. Following a 1-1 draw at the Vélodrome, Atalanta sealed qualification with a commanding 3-0 home victory to reach the first European final in Club history.
And then came Bayer Leverkusen. Xabi Alonso’s “Invincibles”, winners of Group H and fresh from victories over Qarabağ, West Ham and Roma. The final obstacle before history.
To relive the journey chapter by chapter all the way to the final, the official playlist retraces Atalanta’s entire road to Dublin.
Two years on, that night continues to represent far more than a simple victory.
Dublin has become an indelible chapter in Atalanta’s European journey, a memory forever etched into the Club’s history.