While the city Bergamo (Italy) with a population of 122,000 is holding its breath for news about the coronavirus spread, the Atalanta football squad with Iličić at the forefront made history in Spain to bring joy to the troubled region.

This is the gist of Italian media reports following Atalanta's beating Valencia 4 to 3 in an empty stadium in Spain last night to advance to the next round in their first season in the Champions League after a 4 to 1 win at San Siro.

La Repubblica praised Iličić's feat as "dreamlike", and La Gazzetta dello Sport labelled him a "giant" while Corriere dello Sport called him a "madman".

La Stampa noted that Iličić's and Atalanta's historic feat cannot be genuinely celebrated given the empty stadium and the coronavirus outbreak, in particular in Bergamo where 1,245 people have been infected.

Commenting on the success for the Italian media, the 32-year Slovenia international from Kranj repeated that he was like wine, getting better with age.

"I won't stop. I want more. I want to have fun. I'm sorry there was no audience, our great supporters that we want to bring joy to in these difficult moments," said Iličić, who scored 21 goals in 29 matches this season, including five in the last two Champions League fixtures against Valencia.