Marten De Roon admitted there’s ‘little margin for error’ against Liverpool as Atalanta fight to progress to the Europa League semi-finals.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side blew the Reds out of the water at Anfield in their first leg meeting last week, leaving the home crowd stunned as Gianluca Scamacca and Mario Pasalic drove the Bergamo outfit to a 3-0 win in Merseyside.
Despite the achievements of Gasperini with Atalanta over the eight years, he still hasn’t managed to guide the club to a trophy, adding an extra weight to their Europa League campaign. In recent days, he’s been linked with a move to Napoli in the summer.
De Roon on Atalanta dream and Liverpool danger
Speaking in a press conference via TMW, De Roon first discussed the emotions ahead of Atalanta’s decisive Europa League clash with Liverpool.
“I don’t think it’s just Bergamo, but I believe that all of Italy will be with us tomorrow. It’s a very special match, playing against an important team is really special, we want to do our best, as we did there. We’ll do as best as possible. We’ll always have the same mentality and intensity.”
He touched on the squad’s desire to progress in the competition.
“It’ll be all to play for, but it’s the dream of all the players to go to the semi-final knowing that we’ve beaten Liverpool. It’ll be tough, they can score goals against you at any moment, but we want to repeat an important performance, as we said before we’ll do our best.”
De Roon was asked what he’d tell the younger players in the squad.
“Before the match at Anfield, I told everyone to enjoy the evening in the best possible way. Liverpool are a great team, there is little margin for error, moments can change the match.
“We have to give our best, they are capable of putting us in difficulty, but we are capable of doing so too. It’ll be a battle.”
Finally, De Roon discussed what it meant to Atalanta to beat Liverpool at Anfield.
“I saw the happiness of the fans after the victory. I think that for all of Bergamo this could be a little dream, now it’s up to us to make everything even more special by moving on to the next round.”