Gian Piero Gasperini insists Atalanta have ‘much to be proud of’ after their 2-2 draw with Manchester United, revealing his joke in Italian with Cristiano Ronaldo.

It was yet another heart-breaking Champions League game against Manchester United and specifically Ronaldo, who again scored in stoppages.

He completed the comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Old Trafford, while this time he bagged the equaliser on the volley, but only after Mason Greenwood appeared to handle.

Champions League | Atalanta 2-2 Man Utd: Ronaldo breaks hearts in Bergamo

“I feel good, it was a fantastic evening. Clearly, going without this Ronaldo moment of magic would’ve made it better, but we finally got to celebrate in front of our fans with one of Europe’s biggest clubs,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“A win would’ve been the ultimate, but we went close. We feel very proud, 80 per cent happy and 20 per cent regret, because conceding in stoppages is disappointing. A win would’ve really given us a push towards qualification.

“We’ve still got a chance, but we feel proud to have played this well against Manchester United. It’s a difficult situation, we have to see what Villarreal and Manchester United do, but we can still depend on our own results.

“We knew this sort of game is played to the 95th minute. Conceding a goal right at the end of half-time was also a bit annoying, we’ve been making too many mistakes like that lately, but it means we have room for improvement!

“There were a couple of ricochets late on, but we have many reasons to be proud of the performance against a club rich in resources.”

Gasperini seemed positively furious after Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata wasted a promising counter-attack.

“In the Champions League, great players can change a game that you deserved to win and then don’t. A third goal would’ve killed it, that was the case in Manchester too, and we certainly had the chances to go 3-1 up in both games.

“We never stopped looking for the third goal, at times we were sharper than others, but in the second half tonight it really did seem to be within our grasp. Manchester United did very little to threaten here.

“We didn’t get the points we deserved over the two games, especially tonight, as after going 2-1 up it seemed to be under control.

“Plus Manchester United are famous for these late comebacks, flinging men forward in the final minutes, so it’s not just against us.”

Gasp was spotted hugging and joking with Ronaldo as they went into the tunnel for half-time, so what did they say?

“Some even managed to say he was a problem, imagine Ronaldo as a problem! He rarely gets it off target, half the time he scores, half the time it is saved.

“I told him something in Italian, which I will censor for television, but I told him to go somewhere…”

Manchester United are now joint top with Villarreal on seven points, followed by Atalanta on five and Young Boys with three.

Without Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals, it would be Villarreal and Atalanta on 8 points, Young Boys 3 and Manchester United 2.

4 thought on “Gasperini: ‘Atalanta have much to be proud of’”
  1. Gasp disappointed me, for making only one sub,why manU made 4.knowing that Atlanta players are tired.and putting more pressure on them in the last minute.he should have made 2 more sub, to energized the tired Atlanta players.but he failed.

  2. what do u guys expect? atalanta doesnt have deep squad and lots injury players. while MU not play good but they have better depth on their squad that why they still fresh playing for 90 mnt with 5 subs.

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