Gian Piero Gasperini believes Atalanta caused Inter huge problems and deserved all three points. “We cannot play this way in attack without taking risks.”
Lautaro Martinez gave Inter the lead after four minutes, but as time wore on, La Dea dominated possession and had almost twice as many passes completed at San Siro.
Gian Piero Gasperini believes Atalanta caused Inter huge problems and deserved all three points. “We cannot play this way in attack without taking risks.”
Lautaro Martinez gave Inter the lead after four minutes, but as time wore on, La Dea dominated possession and had almost twice as many passes completed at San Siro.
There were strong penalty appeals on the stroke of half-time for a Lautaro Martinez trip on Rafael Toloi’s ankle, then Robin Gosens did equalise, but Samir Handanovic parried the Luis Muriel penalty.
“We are both fired up during games, but we have mutual respect and it was a wonderful game of football,” Gasp told DAZN of his rapport with Antonio Conte.
“We dominated in the second half, but it wasn’t easy for us to recover after conceding so early on and allowing Lautaro and Lukaku to run at us. The defence was extraordinary, allowing the rest of the team to continue playing their football and cutting off the spaces for the Inter strikers.
“Josip Ilicic and Papu Gomez improved after the break and the whole team’s level was raised as a consequence.”
Duvan Zapata was a risk in the starting XI, as he had made only a brief substitute appearance since his serious injury in October.
“He is a fundamental player for us, was out for three months and the only way we can get him back into shape is by playing. It was a good comeback, all things considered, and he held out well physically.
“This is our style of playing football. It’s too comfortable to think we could keep an extra man back to defend, to pack the midfield, but this is what I believe in and we cannot play this way in attack without taking these risks.
“We created a lot of problems for Inter tonight and I think they weren’t used to dealing with this level of attacking pressure.”
Muriel could even have won it late on, but his penalty was saved by Handanovic.
“We’ve wasted so many penalties in the last three-and-a-half years, but this time Handanovic was also excellent and he has a great record of saving spot-kicks.
“It’s a pity, because we would’ve deserved the victory and it was a big opportunity.”
There was a very controversial incident in the first half, with Inter still leading 1-0, as Lautaro Martinez seemed to grab hold of Rafael Toloi’s ankle, preventing him from tapping in the rebound from a couple of yards.
“I don’t understand why VAR didn’t call it. The game is over now, but these things are ugly to see. This type of error should not be allowed in the age of VAR. It’s incomprehensible,” said Gasperini.
“I feel bad for those in the VAR booth, because this kind of error takes something away from a very valuable technology. I feel personally that it ought to be used only on situations that are clear and this really was clear.”