"We've taken a big weight off our shoulders, because we knew that for this club playing in Europe is important — it was the biggest challenge of the year," wing-back Raoul Bellanova told Atalanta's official channels.
"It was our third match in seven days, I think you could see a bit of tiredness, but it was important to win and we did." The full-back acknowledged the pressure of being favourites against a side that had pushed Atalanta close across both legs.
"We were the team with the most pressure, but credit also has to go to our opponents, because they played two great matches. The most important thing was suffering together as a team," he said, adding that a different outcome would have been hard to take.
"If we had lost it would have been a very tough blow to digest, especially mentally. This gives us a boost and makes us want to go as far as possible in this competition."
Head coach Maurizio Sarri was similarly relieved after a tie he had expected to be difficult from the first leg.
"For us it was a difficult match, we understood that from the first leg and the same thing repeated itself. I think we only struggled in the first 10-15 minutes, then we put in a good performance and we come out deserved winners," Sarri said.
"Our fans cared about this, the players, the staff... pretty much everyone, so we're happy."
Asked whether the whole of Bergamo had been invested in the result, Sarri agreed.
"Yes, we're happy about that. We'd had bad luck in the draw, because finding a team of this level in a Conference League preliminary round isn't easy, but that's how it went. Now we turn our attention back to the league and we'll think about this again in October."
Sarri also flagged the physical toll of a congested schedule, with Atalanta due to play again just four days later.
"It was certainly a demanding match — the problem is we play again in four days, maybe too demanding," he said, smiling. "This is a moment when some rest would do us good, but playing this frequently now makes things difficult."
Despite the fatigue, Sarri allowed himself a brief moment to enjoy the result before refocusing.
"I'll enjoy it for a few hours — tomorrow morning, which is actually today, we'll do a bit of training even though we won't be back until 3.30am," he said.