Gian Piero Gasperini admits he thought Atalanta’s match against Juventus was ‘already won’ as they gear up for a derby with Brescia tomorrow.
The two sides are based in Lombardy but have contrasting fortunes, with Atalanta closing in on a Champions League place and Brescia nine points adrift of Serie A safety.
“It’s a derby and that can’t go amiss,” Gasperini said at a press conference.
Gian Piero Gasperini admits he thought Atalanta’s match against Juventus was ‘already won’ as they gear up for a derby with Brescia tomorrow.
The two sides are based in Lombardy but have contrasting fortunes, with Atalanta closing in on a Champions League place and Brescia nine points adrift of Serie A safety.
“It’s a derby and that can’t go amiss,” Gasperini said at a press conference.
“Our opponents will be very much up for it, but we have to get all three points to move clear of Napoli and mathematically make sure of Europe, before preparing for the Champions League in the best way.
“The sporting rivalry remains, but the two towns have come closer because they’ve been affected by the coronavirus.”
Atalanta seemed to have done enough for a 2-1 win at Juventus but were ultimately denied by a second Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.
“The performance can’t leave me feeling regretful. We’re disappointed about conceding the second penalty when it seemed like we’d already won.
“I liked what we did against the team who are winning the Scudetto and can have their say in Europe too.”
Josip Ilicic has yet to register a goal or assist since the season restarted, but the coach confirmed he was in line to start on Tuesday.
“Ilicic’s getting there, he’s recovering. We’ll be even stronger with him: his approach and desire to take a leading role help us.
Today is practically the first training session we’ve had. We have some knocks to recover from, but there are 24 hours before the game: we need the best possible team.”