The defeat against Sassuolo and a position in the standings closer to the relegation zone (6 points) than to the Champions League zone (9) cost Atalanta coach Ivan Juric his job. Off to the November break to try to reverse the trend of a team that has been struggling since the beginning of the year, almost never wins (4 times in 15 games), scores slowly (16 goals) and shows that it doesn’t have an identity even close to the one they were used to in Bergamo.
It was conceivable that the post-Gasperini transition would be difficult. Juric, however, suffers from the feeling of not having the project’s growth process under control and the brilliant success in Marseille against a big team from the French championship was not enough to change the meaning of the decision of the Atalanta leaders. Immediate dismissal to take action, the name chosen is that of Raffaele Palladino with a contract until 2027 to try to start the new cycle.
Juric, third dismissal in a calendar year
A bad blow for the Croatian coach who at Atalanta imagined he had finally gotten on the right train. The end of 2024 and his 2025 were the worst period of his career and risk marking him as “mister sacked”. In twelve months Juric has seen his relationships with Roma, Southampton and now Atalanta disappear due to a lack of results. Three different events, with a single common thread: exoneration at the end.
He arrived in the capital suddenly after the expulsion of the home idol Daniele De Rossi, called by a management almost immediately disheartened by the owners and not welcomed by the public. An almost impossible mission which resulted in a failure: two months of work, few victories (4) and a greater number of defeats (5), Rome slipped in the standings and was only revived by the advent of Claudio Ranieri with a sprint towards the Champions League zone interrupted only at the last minute and not without regrets: what would it have been without the Croatian’s parenthesis?
Before Christmas he landed on the bench of Southampton in the Premier League. Called to try to get a season back on its feet that started very badly without, however, being able to make an impact. On the contrary. Relegation in April with seven days to spare before the end of the championship, a negative historical record for the English tournament and a streak of only one success and one draw in 14 consecutive days, another unenviable record for the Premier League. End of story, despite a contract valid until June 30, 2026.
Also for this reason the call of theAtalanta in June he surprised everyone. Juric landed in Bergamo with the business card of having been a close collaborator of Gasperini and, perhaps, one of the few living interpreters of his football. An attempt to provide continuity in the change, in short, foundered in just over three months, leaving a two-year agreement on the table until 2027.
