Atalanta Eye Serie A Summit As Title Challenge Takes Off

Atalanta take on AC Milan on Friday night with Serie A's top spot in their sights and a growing belief that this could be their year for unprecedented Scudetto glory. A point behind current leaders Napoli, Atalanta are gunning for a club record-equalling ninth straight win in Italy's top flight and are, for the first time in their history, genuine title challengers. Atalanta have never finished higher than third in Serie A, which they did three seasons in a row between 2019 and 2021 with a thrilling team featuring an all-action attack of Josip Ilicic, Duvan Zapata and Papu Gomez.

However the current line-up, still on a high from last year's historic Europa League triumph and the division's top scorers with 36 goals, looks capable of going even further in Gian Piero Gasperini's ninth season as coach.

Atalanta have won 11 of 12 matches in all competitions -- drawing the other -- since the start of October and after Monday night's 2-0 success at Roma, Claudio Ranieri said they were "ready, really ready" to fight for the league crown.

"Winning the Europa League really helped those who took part in it grow as players, and a lot of new faces have arrived who are also developing. That's the reason for these results," said Gasperini after his team hit Young Boys for six last month.

A win over Milan would put Atalanta top at least for two days as Napoli host Lazio on Sunday night, and equal a Serie A wins record established in 2020 when Bergamo was the European epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That year Atalanta stunned Europe by reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where two late goals denied them a win over mega-rich Paris Saint-Germain and a spot in the last four.

Since then, Atalanta have kept building on