That's normal because from the start we only focused on a few big and highly probable clubs like Liverpool and Leverkusen even for Serie A clubs I believe Milan and Roma's chances are higher which makes Atalanta less of a concern because after all they are a dark horse for this competition.
But on the other hand, actually from the beginning also when in the last 16 phase we must have believed and even many discussions that in the end the Europa League is always unexpected.
So with this in mind it's actually quite difficult to accept Atalanta as champions this season but then again Europa League surprises have happened in recent seasons so this is what makes me not too surprised by the surprises that occur even though I didn't expect it because in the last final bet I had to lose because I was fighting for Leverkusen.
Atalanta were not even favorites to become champions but in the end they were able to create a surprise by beating Liverpool and Leverkusen. Indeed, sometimes we only measure in terms of their depth and performance last season where Leverkusen and Liverpool performed quite well in the domestic league so that these two teams were favorites to become champions but both failed. Yes, even though in the last season we saw a lot of surprises that happened, I think next season this won't happen again. Where at every opportunity the stronger team must be able to play their game well without assuming that the opponent they are facing is weak.
Even with Atalanta success in becoming champions, of course many people were quite surprised by their good performance, but that's football where a team doesn't have to be taken weak. Competition is always fierce every season and every team that competes in the European league of course cannot be compared to their performance in the domestic league because different competitions are of course different in the way they play.
But it is indeed a fairness because after all, apart from the current performance, we will also see how they performed last season as a benchmark and of course the depth of the squad they have so it would be quite natural if we did not predict for Atalanta beforehand.
But as you said in the end this is indeed a surprise situation that cannot be avoided where the previous 2 favorites Liverpool and Leverkusen were wiped out by Atalanta even the score is the same where Atalanta also beat Liverpool with a score of 3 goals. Atalanta problem now is that they have to be in the Champions League. The previous few seasons when they were in the Champions League their performance dropped dramatically because not only did they become the team at the bottom of the standings at that time they also declined in domestic competitions. Hopefully, things will be a little different now because it would be a shame if they return to the same difficult situation as a few seasons ago when they were in the Champions League.