Atalanta ultras donated €60,000 to a local hospital, the money they would’ve been owed for the Champions League match with Valencia played behind closed doors.
The club had reimbursed the supporters who had been due to make the trip to Valencia on March 10 to see the historic Round of 16 fixture.
Instead, 1,200 of them chose to donate the money to the local Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo.
Those funds were presented today, as a group of the ultras visited the facility.
Bergamo was the hardest-hit town in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a convoy of military trucks taking coffins to other cities because the crematorium was overwhelmed will remain as the most arresting image of the crisis.
“It was a lovely moment to meet the fans,” hospital director-general Maria Beatrice Stasi told La Repubblica.
“We talked about the most tragic period of the pandemic, which we got through thanks to teamwork, a sense of belonging and a common understanding. These are all concepts those in sports know, appreciate, and share.
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“As a hospital, we also collaborated with Atalanta as well as its fans. After everything the city has been through, those bonds became even stronger.”
The ultras also designed and made a T-Shirt, with profits going to buy a new ambulance.
On the back there is a banner that reads: ‘You honoured the greatest challenge. Bergamo will forever be grateful to you.’