Berat Djimsiti believes that a ‘united’ Atalanta side, relying on a philosophy of teamwork, have every chance of beating the undefeated Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final on Wednesday night.
The 31-year-old sat down for his pre-match press conference on Tuesday evening, following on from coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who has also concluded media duties ahead of tomorrow’s final.
With regular captain Rafael Toloi not expected to start tomorrow, and with his deputy Marten De Roon ruled out through injury, Djimisiti will don the Atalanta armband in Dublin.
Europa League final: Djimsiti explains how Atalanta can beat Bayer Leverkusen
The first question that came Djimsiti’s way related to Atalanta’s game plan for tomorrow’s Europa League final. He believes that unity will help Atalanta in their quest to defeat the undefeated.
He said that Atalanta could beat Bayer Leverkusen: “as a team, that is our philosophy. It will be important to remain united and defend well on the pitch.
Djimsiti was also asked if he has had the chance to process the magnitude of reaching a major European final.
“Now that I’m here in the stadium I’m starting to feel the importance of tomorrow’s match,” he replied.
“Even seeing all these journalists here gives me that feeling. The coach made a good point, there was no time to think about the future, because we’ve had so many matches to play before now. You realise it at the end of the season.”
Atalanta are billed as the underdogs heading into the Europa League final, which makes a change compared to last week, when many had claimed they were the favourites approaching the Coppa Italia final against Juventus.
“I don’t know if we were really favourites against Juventus. They’re a great team who are used to playing in finals. Tomorrow I don’t think we are favourites either, we’ll concentrate on ourselves.”
Asked whether Bayer Leverkusen’s undefeated status could be a burden heading into their final fixture of the 2023-24 season, Djimsiti explained: “It might be, but the desire to be the first team to beat them is also a boost for us. We will try.”
The Europa League press conference concluded with a question on how Djimsiti has improved on a personal level.
He replied: “In many ways, I think. With all these years of experience with Atalanta, it’s taught me what it means to be competitive. I haven’t set myself any limited targets in terms of improvement, but I think it’s gone well. You can always improve.”