Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon has claimed that Atalanta can ‘cause an upset’ against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and said the short ‘break has been good’.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men are preparing to face Les Parisiens in Lisbon and De Roon stressed that La Dea have a better chance of overcoming the Ligue 1 champions in the one-leg format of the Final Eight.
Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon has claimed that Atalanta can ‘cause an upset’ against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and said the short ‘break has been good’.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men are preparing to face Les Parisiens in Lisbon and De Roon stressed that La Dea have a better chance of overcoming the Ligue 1 champions in the one-leg format of the Final Eight.
“Playing only 90 minutes against such a strong side is easier than facing them over two legs,” he told France Football. “We can cause an upset, even if it will be difficult.
“We will give our best. At the time of the draw, I thought it would be a fantastic game.”
He admitted that the Nerazzurri thought they were playing for a place in the Europa League after having started with a 4-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the group stage.
“After the first leg of the group stage, we didn’t think we could get this far. We wanted to win the last two games to qualify for the Europa League and instead it went well for us.”
De Roon revealed the short breather since August 2 has given them some energy back but pointed out that Atalanta ‘don’t run more, but better’.
“The break after the championship has been good for us. We played a lot and it wasn’t easy.
“We don’t run more than the other, we do it better, given that we spend most of the matches in the opposition’s half of the pitch.
“Our goal is to get the ball back as high up as possible.”