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Paratici: 'Atalanta can be the Italian Leicester'

Paratici: 'Atalanta can be the Italian Leicester'

Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici believes Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta can be the Italian equivalent of Leicester City.

Leicester won the Premier League in the 2015-16 season against all odds, by pipping giants like Tottenham and Arsenal to title. The Foxes were deemed to be 5000/1 to win the title when the Premier League started that season.

Juve sporting director Paratici was recently talking ​at the "Manlio Scopigno and Felice Pulici" awards and he was quizzed about many things. One was about Atalanta and a possible Scudetto challenge fro m La Dea.

He said: ​ The championship is still long, the Nerazzurri is the most credible rival to win the league title , was definitely an important game to prove to ourselves that we, who are the protagonists. 

"Even Napoli is a very strong team, and I think that Atalanta is at the level of the ones I just mentioned, it can be the Italian Leicester. As for Juve it is not easy to have this kind of continuity, and for this I have to thank my club and the players we have had."

Gasperini's men managed to finish as high as third in the Serie A last season, sealing Champions League qualification. They have already played two games in the competition, losing to Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar.

Atalanta are currently at third in the Serie A, just three points behind leaders Juve and two points behind second-placed Inter. They have lost one game against Torino and were held to a 2-2 draw by Fiorentina.

Their next game sees them face Lazio away from home, with Duvan Zapata's inclusion in strong doubt.