Matteo Ruggeri, Giorgio Scalvini and Charles De Ketelaere will miss Atalanta‘s home game against Sturm Graz on Thursday, but Gian Piero Gasperini reassures that their injuries are ‘not serious.’
Lea Dea host the Austrian side at the Gewiss Stadium tomorrow, but Gasp must cope without three regular starters this season: De Ketelaere, Ruggeri and Scalvini.
“There are no severe injuries, sometimes three or four days are not enough to recover, but it’s the same for all teams. We have an emergency and we’ll try to handle it well,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
There was concern CDK would remain out of action with a knee problem, but Gasperini explained: “It’s the collateral ligament, which is quite common in football. There are more severe injuries.
“Tomorrow is an important game,” he continued.
“Hopefully, we can get a good result so the match against Sporting will be decisive [to win the group].”
Atalanta lost 2-1 against Inter in Serie A last weekend but will qualify for the next phase of the Europa League if they win tomorrow.
“We hoped we could get at least one point against Inter, but it didn’t happen so we’ll focus on the Europa League now,” said La Dea’s coach who confirmed Juan Musso will start in goal, while Luis Muriel will likely have a chance up front alongside Gianluca Scamacca.
“I don’t think it’s the right time to change goalkeeper now, it’s better in other games. Muriel has always been a valuable resource, he played the last few games.”
“If we can rely on a striker with the qualities that Scamacca is proving to have, our value will rise,” continued Gasp.
“It is in attack where we reap the rewards of what we do, but we also have Lookman, Muriel and De Ketelaere. Everyone has put in excellent performances lately, but we need consistency.”