Gian Piero Gasperini feels Atalanta ‘did more’ than Inter in the 2-1 home defeat, but also gives Simone Inzaghi’s men ‘credit’ for being so clinical.
La Dea had not conceded a single goal at the Gewiss Stadium this season, but that record was broken by Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty for a Juan Musso foul on Matteo Darmian.
Lautaro Martinez’s splendid curler gave Musso little chance, but Gianluca Scamacca tapped in the Ademola Lookman assist to set up a tense finale, which got too tense for Rafael Toloi, punished by a second yellow card.
“We played it on event terms and perhaps did a little more than our opponents, but we paid for a lack of precision in a few situations,” Gasperini told DAZN.
“Let’s give credit to Inter, when you give them an inch, they can punish you. Lautaro Martinez’s goal was simply extraordinary, when surrounded by two or three defenders, he still made the difference.
“If we ignore the result, then there were positives from this game, as we allowed a team like Inter very little going forward. This ought to give us a boost and we need to gain strength from it.”
Atalanta had started stronger and went behind to the Calhanoglu penalty, then switched to a four-man defence in the second half.
“That change was planned, especially if we went behind. In theory, it could’ve been risky, but we did come back really strong after getting a goal back with many players pushing forward. The regret is that we did create so many chances and didn’t take them.”
Gasperini was furious with his players after the penalty incident, when Darmian went clear on goal and was brought down by Musso.
“We were really naïve there. It was a hard-fought game, largely a fair one from both sides.”
In a bid to get back into the game, the coach introduced Charles De Ketelaere and Luis Muriel.
“De Ketelaere is still a forward in my view, as he becomes an average player the further away he is from the box. Muriel is more explosive, he put a couple of crosses in and on one of them Hateboer was not expecting it. We are satisfied with the performance and must have faith for the rest of the season.”
This result and Napoli’s 2-0 victory away to Salernitana means that Atalanta drop out of the top four positions.