Everton v Atalanta: Serie A underdogs are defying odds & winning admirers

Former Cardiff City striker Andreas Cornelius has scored five goals for Atalanta this season

Everton were not expected to have too many problems when the draw pitted them in the same Europa League group as Atalanta.

Their opponents could not boast the glamour of the other Serie A sides in the draw - AC Milan and Lazio. But then-manager Ronald Koeman knew better. "From my experience, I know it is not about the name of the Italian team, because every Italian team is difficult to beat," he said.

But Koeman still did not expect to be 3-0 down at half-time at the Mapei Stadium in September.

The Italian club's owner Antonio Percassi could not believe his eyes, either. A former Atalanta player, he had watched his team, the revelation of last season in Serie A, be broken up over the summer. Roberto Gagliardini had already left for Inter in January. Franck Kessie and Andrea Conti joined AC Milan, and Mattia Caldara has agreed to join Juventus next season.

At a time when Everton were spending £142m, Atalanta's biggest signings, Andreas Cornelius and Maarten de Roon, both shared one thing in common: relegation from the Premier League. One with Cardiff. The other with Middlesbrough.

"We thought we might lose 3-0," said Percassi, acknowledging Everton's pedigree but also the fact Atalanta were playing in Reggio Emilia, two hours away from home in Bergamo. "Instead, at half-time, it was 3-0 to us. I've never felt anything like it before."

It was Atalanta's first game in Europe in 26 years and their best since they reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1988.

Just when their fans thought the fairytale might be over, a new chapter began.

Are they Italy's Leicester?

Gian Piero Gasperini was on the brink of the sack early last season

Nobody expected Atalanta to finish fourth last season. They lost four of their first five matches under new coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who found himself desperately close to the sack.

In crisis, the standard procedure is to go with experience. Gasperini instead had the courage to play the kids. Percassi thought he had lost his mind. But it worked and Atalanta never looked back. They upset Napoli, Inter and then Roma at home, matching a club record six wins in a row.

"What's the Juve score?" the players jokingly asked when they got back to the dressing room after another win, as if they were in the thick of a title race.

When Gagliardini was sold to Inter in the winter and Kessie left for the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast, many thought the wheels would come off. But instead, they finished above AC Milan and Inter for the first time in their history. Is it any wonder that those clubs decided to go shopping in Bergamo over the summer?

"For a while now, people have been trying to get me to say that we're like Leicester or that we're in the title race," Gasperini said.

In truth, the only comparison with the 2015-16 Premier League champions was the enthusiasm Atalanta generated and the goodwill it brought them.

Gasperini instead saw last season like a trip to the fairground. "You remember when the fair used to come to town? That's what it's like. It's like being on the most beautiful ride without knowing when it's going to stop, when we have to get off."

And Atalanta are still on a dodgem. Physical, in your face, they give you the bumps.

The Nursery of Italy

Given Bergamo is just an hour in the car from Milan, you would think there would be a strong temptation to be a fan of Inter or AC Milan. But it is hard to find anyone in he town who does not worship the team known as La Dea, The Goddess.

One reason for that is an initiative launched by Percassi in 2010 - Atalanta send every newborn baby in Bergamo a replica kit. He gets them early.

It chimes with the image of the club as the Nursery of Italy. Their recently retired academy director Mino Favini is a legend when it comes to talent identification. He contributed greatly to Atalanta's renown as a talent factory and for investing in youth early.

The likes of Gaetano Scirea, Antonio Cabrini, Roberto Donadoni, Pippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri all passed through here on the way to winning the highest honours the game has to offer. And that's before we even get to more recent names such as Giampaolo Pazzini, the first player to score a hat-trick at the new Wembley, Southampton striker Manolo Gabbiadini and Simone Zaza of Valencia.

Youth development is also a big part of why they appointed Gasperini. A former midfielder, who famously gave Diego Maradona a fat lip while playing for Pescara against Napoli in the 1980s, his coaching career began in Juventus' youth system and he has never been afraid to play the kids.

At Genoa, he launched the likes of Stephan El Shaarawy, Mattia Perin, Stefano Sturaro and Rolando Mandragora.

Memorably nicknamed Gasperson while at Marassi, a somewhat unrealistic expression of the hope he might be to Genoa what Sir Alex Ferguson was for Manchester United, the comparison stands at least in the fearlessness he has shown in putting the same faith in young players as Fergie did with the Class of 92.

It made Gasperini the perfect manager for Atalanta. Developing players is not only part of their identity, it's their core business too. On average over the last 15 years 30% of their revenue has come from the sales of homegrown players.

In the last six months alone deals have been struck that will bring Atalanta €90m (£80m) in profits but, rather than fritter it away on big name players, Atalanta are reinvesting it into their academy infrastructure. They have also bought their stadium from the council, the redevelopment of which will be completed in 2020.

Gasperini sees them as the Italian Athletic Bilbao and, at a time of great soul-searching in the Italian game after the national team's failure to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years, they are a model to follow.

Dostoevsky, ping pong and Papu

There is a lot to love about a team that gets to training early in order to hold ping pong tournaments.

You have got De Roon, now in his second spell at the club, whose Twitter bio revealed that one of the things he enjoys most in life is "getting my coffee stamp card complete so I get a free one".

There's Caldara, Atalanta's Russian literature loving centre-back, who prefers reading Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to playing PlayStation.

And then there is Papu Gomez and Andrea Petagna - Atalanta's Little and Large, a comedy double act and formidable strike partnership. Petagna, or 'little bear' as Papu calls him, is similar to Diego Costa in size and build.

Papu, meanwhile, remains one of Europe's most underrated players. Before Atalanta played Lyon in September, Nabil Fekir, the French side's best player, claimed to have never heard of Gomez. It led to headlines like "PapWho?". Gomez introduced himself by scoring an incredible free-kick to clinch a point for Atalanta at the Stade OL.

The 29-year-old Argentine did the double-double last season with 10 assists and 16 goals while also designing his own armbands and releasing a chart topping song, which has just gone gold. 'Bailar como El Papu' is all about his trademark dance, a viral sensation in Italy and beyond over the last year.

After Atalanta's impressive 5-1 win at Goodison on Thursday, you can bet Papu and his team-mates will be doing it again as they celebrate qualification to the knock-out stage.