Gasperini: ‘Atalanta play for it all, but fourth is a Scudetto’

Gian Piero Gasperini displays on the expansion of Atalanta after consolidating fourth place, however rejects the thought they will problem for the Europa League or the Scudetto. ‘We’ll attempt to play all of them.’

Mario Pasalic had opened the scoring early on, however Sassuolo thought they’d equalise on the stroke of half-time when incomes a penalty.

Nevertheless, they didn’t depend on Marco Carnesecchi saving the Andrea Pinamonti penalty twice – each the primary time and when it needed to be retaken resulting from encroachment.

After that, Atalanta ran wild with Teun Koopmeiners and a deflected Mitchel Bakker effort for the 3-0 scoreline.

“There was already a hazard when Sassuolo hit the crossbar, then the penalty, so these 20-25 minutes after our opening aim have been disappointing,” Gasperini instructed Sky Sport Italia.

“We ended up going to sleep and struggled to get out of that, however the second half was superb, we had quite a few scoring alternatives and it was the appropriate consequence.”

The Bergamo boys are one of many type groups after 5 consecutive Serie A victories, together with seven in a row on the Gewiss Stadium. Did the coach anticipate them to flourish like this after the Christmas break?

“I knew that I had a strong defence and midfield that has been working collectively for years. The introduction of Sead Kolasinac was definitely a lift to the defence, then we improved on the wings with gamers who’ve advanced.

“The most important distinction has been in assault, with De Ketelaere, Miranchuk, Scamacca, in fact we knew Lookman, there may be additionally this lad Toure who had points. We rested Marten de Roon right now, as he performed consistently, so wanted some relaxation. He additionally will get extra yellow playing cards than most, so we needed to keep away from that going into this run of fixtures.”

The subsequent few weeks are going to be powerful, as a result of Atalanta face Milan, a rescheduled fixture with Inter on February 28, Bologna, Juventus, Fiorentina and Napoli in a row, to not point out the Coppa Italia semi-final and Europa League Spherical of 16.

“Now we have seven video games in 22 days, however this has occurred earlier than with cup fixtures. We might’ve accomplished with out them at this second, however we’re up towards six of the primary eight or 9 groups in a row, plus the Europa League and we don’t but know who our opponents can be in that fixture.

“Our squad is nearly full in the intervening time, so we’re in a position to face these challenges. I simply hope that the scenario stays like that with no accidents.”

Can Atalanta be thought of one of many favourites to win the Europa League together with Milan, Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen?

“When you attain the quarter-finals, the Europa League begins to look lots just like the Champions League. We’re in all the pieces in the intervening time, we can’t attempt to make selections, whether or not it’s going all the way in which within the Europa League, the Coppa Italia, Serie A. We’ll attempt to play for all of them.”

Gasperini was requested if this was the perfect Atalanta squad he has labored with throughout his tenure and what they’re lacking to mount a real Scudetto problem.

“If I have a look at the squad we had after we reached the Champions League quarter-final towards PSG, then definitely we had a whole lot of youngsters on the bench, however that was additionally our highest second.

“We may be a little bit extra full now, however we have been additionally undecided how these younger gamers would evolve and they’re doing very effectively. If it’s the strongest Atalanta squad I’ve had or not, we’ll see over the following few months.

“The Scudetto is usually 90-95 even 100 factors, whereas our greatest tended to be within the mid-70s. Folks preserve asking about trophies, however the one practical one for Atalanta is the Coppa Italia and we reached the Last twice. That’s the one we will attempt to win.

“What we are likely to do is develop gamers, assist them develop after which fairly rightly promote them on to greater golf equipment, so we begin once more. That is the third totally different squad we’ve gone by way of in eight years, we promote the jewels and discover new ones.

“The way in which I see it, reaching 70 factors and fourth place in these circumstances is price each bit as a lot as a Scudetto.”

#SerieA | #Gasperini: “Scudetto? Per l’#Atalanta l’unico trofeo fattibile è la #CoppaItalia“https://t.co/AEgjhhMV5Z

— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) February 17, 2024