Gian Piero Gasperini warns Atalanta must face Liverpool in the Europa League with ‘the same battling spirit’ that Cagliari showed to fight back and win today.
It had started so well for La Dea, as Gianluca Scamacca flicked in the Ademola Lookman assist to give them an early lead in Sardinia.
However, they were otherwise wasteful in attack and the fatigue of the midweek Coppa Italia semi-final defeat to Fiorentina began to take its toll in the final stages.
Tommaso Augello tapped in at the back post and late on Nicolas Viola got between defenders for a glancing header on Zito Luvumbo’s cross to turn it around.
“We conceded a bad goal, as before that Cagliari had not really caused us any problems, but it gave them a second wind and we struggled,” said Gasperini in his press conference.
“We had the sensation that Cagliari had this fighting spirit. We had several scoring opportunities, but lacked quality upfront. Perhaps a draw would’ve been the fair result.”
The coach raised eyebrows by introducing Mitchel Bakker as a substitute and then taking him off again just before Cagliari scored the winner.
“He was struggling and couldn’t even jump for the headers. He cannot play like this, he was not in any condition to continue.”
This result leaves Atalanta in sixth place with a game in hand, to be played against Fiorentina, but they fall away from Roma and Bologna, with Napoli closing up behind them.
The problems keep coming for Atalanta, as Davide Zappacosta and Marten de Roon will be suspended in Serie A, but at least they seemed to avoid new injuries going into the Europa League quarter-final against Liverpool.
“We must use Cagliari as an example, because if we want to get something from Liverpool, we need to face that match with the same fighting spirit that Cagliari showed against us today.”