Gian Piero Gasperini admits Atalanta ‘took a while to recover’ from the Olympiacos opener, but the comeback to win 2-1 was a much-needed confidence booster.
La Dea were caught out by an early Tiquinho Soares shot, which took an odd bend as he was slipping in the run-up, but dominated the rest of this Europa League play-off.
Of all the numerous shots on goal, Berat Djimsiti turned it around with two strikes from corners in the space of 120 seconds.
“European ties are always difficult, you are up against teams that are leading their own leagues and have players who can get a goal out of anywhere,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
Europa League | Atalanta 2-1 Olympiacos: Djimsiti double avoids Greek tragedy
“We took a while to recover from that blow and then controlled the second half. Let’s say finally scoring a goal from a corner will also help our confidence.”
The good news is that away goals no longer count double, but a 2-1 result is still a slender lead going to Athens for the second leg.
“Olympiacos have a strong home atmosphere, but we can play better than this and will also have an extra day to recover after Florence. It’s all to play for.”
With Duvan Zapata, Josip Ilicic and Aleksei Miranchuk already injured, Luis Muriel also limped off at half-time with a flexor issue.
“It’s really a bad moment for us, we seem to go through these periods where everyone is out from one area. In November and December, we were missing all the defenders, now we are missing all the strikers, but we still believe we can be competitive.”
Djimsiti joked he could play upfront in the next game, but it might not be entirely a joke.
“He scored twice, albeit from set plays. We tried Mario Pasalic as a centre-forward tonight, that’s what we had to do!”
Atalanta finally broke their Gewiss Stadium taboo, having won here in 2022 only in the Coppa Italia.
“Someone said there was a sense of pessimism in Bergamo, but I don’t see that at all. We are never pessimistic, we are still protagonists in Serie A, we want to stay in Europe even if bandaged up. It’s a pity we cannot always play with the right technical quality, but we managed to find a way to win.”
Gasperini was asked if Atalanta could more easily target Champions League qualification by finishing in the top four of Serie A or winning the Europa League?
“Serie A, absolutely. The more the Europa League goes on, there are very strong teams. An Italian side hasn’t won the Europa League since what 1999? We care about the fantastic European stage, but if I had to choose, it would inevitably be Serie A first.
“We are still in the running for fourth place and can certainly do it. This will be a battle to the end for every Serie A position. We’ve been able to finish ahead of several important clubs in recent years for third place, this time we’ll try to get fourth. It won’t be easy, but it’s within our capabilities.”
What a strike from Olympiacos’ Tiquinho Soares! 💥
He slips, but it doesn’t matter! 😅#UEL pic.twitter.com/SqUmZDAQ24
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 17, 2022