Gian Piero Gasperini was more disappointed than proud of his Atalanta side for their UEFA Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid. ‘We missed a big opportunity and should be more clinical.’
It was always going to be a big ask for La Dea to go toe-to-toe with the Galacticos at the National Stadium in Warsaw, especially after being forced to do without Gianluca Scamacca, Nicolò Zaniolo, Teun Koopmeiners, Giorgio Scalvini and Rafael Toloi.
They had their chances nonetheless, especially a huge Thibaut Courtois fingertip save on the Mario Pasalic looping header, but moments later Federico Valverde tapped in the opener, followed nine minutes after that by the goal from debutant Kylian Mbappé.
“I was fairly confident we could cause Real Madrid problems with our style of football. Clearly, the game changed after their goal, especially the second one was avoidable. They undoubtedly deserved the victory,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“We had started well in the second half and had those big chances with the save on Pasalic, but also when Lookman was sent clear and strangely decided not to shoot with his left foot with the goal gaping.
“Clearly, in these games whoever takes the lead gets the momentum and it becomes difficult to come back, much like when we went in front in Dublin,” said Gasp, referring to the Europa League 3-0 Final win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Gasperini keeps raising the bar for Atalanta
Until Gasperini arrived, this club’s biggest ambition was trying to stay in Serie A and here they were as Europa League holders, having played admirably in a UEFA Super Cup, but his reaction shows how far they’ve come.
“We missed a big opportunity considering how the game was going and that disappoints me. We should be more clinical and show more quality in that situation, as it was so important to break the deadlock.
“Other than that, it remains a very important experience, but these experiences mean more when you win. I am still very proud, but we always seem to be missing just that little dot. We had it in Dublin, we missed it tonight.
“I’m sorry for the lads, because they gave their all this evening, played with quality and it was an opportunity you get very few times in life to win a game like this.”
At the final whistle, the Atalanta players went under the section containing the circa 6,000 fans who made the trip from Bergamo and they joined in a mutual salute.
Ancelotti also spoke with Gasperini for some time before they accepted their medals.
“I have a great rapport with Carlo, we talked about football. We want to take something positive from this game, then our Serie A season begins on Monday, it is a very different tournament and we’ll see what happens.
“Unfortunately, we’ll also have to count who is left, because Sead Kolasinac went off with an injury.”