Gian Piero Gasperini reflects on the growth of Atalanta after consolidating fourth place, but rejects the idea they can challenge for the Europa League or the Scudetto. ‘We will try to play them all.’
Mario Pasalic had opened the scoring early on, but Sassuolo thought they would equalise on the stroke of half-time when earning a penalty.
However, they did not count on Marco Carnesecchi saving the Andrea Pinamonti penalty twice – both the first time and when it had to be retaken due to encroachment.
After that, Atalanta ran wild with Teun Koopmeiners and a deflected Mitchel Bakker effort for the 3-0 scoreline.
“There was already a danger when Sassuolo hit the crossbar, then the penalty, so those 20-25 minutes after our opening goal were disappointing,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“We ended up going to sleep and struggled to get out of that, but the second half was very good, we had numerous scoring opportunities and it was the right result.”
The Bergamo boys are one of the form teams after five consecutive Serie A victories, including seven in a row at the Gewiss Stadium. Did the coach expect them to flourish like this after the Christmas break?
“I knew that I had a solid defence and midfield that has been working together for years. The introduction of Sead Kolasinac was certainly a boost to the defence, then we improved on the wings with players who have evolved.
“The biggest difference has been in attack, with De Ketelaere, Miranchuk, Scamacca, of course we knew Lookman, there is also this lad Toure who had issues. We rested Marten de Roon today, as he played constantly, so needed some rest. He also gets more yellow cards than most, so we wanted to avoid that going into this run of fixtures.”
The next few weeks are going to be tough, because Atalanta face Milan, a rescheduled fixture with Inter on February 28, Bologna, Juventus, Fiorentina and Napoli in a row, not to mention the Coppa Italia semi-final and Europa League Round of 16.
“We have seven games in 22 days, but this has happened before with cup fixtures. We could’ve done without them at this moment, but we are up against six of the first eight or nine teams in a row, plus the Europa League and we don’t yet know who our opponents will be in that fixture.
“Our squad is almost complete at the moment, so we are able to face these challenges. I just hope that the situation remains like that with no injuries.”
Can Atalanta be considered one of the favourites to win the Europa League along with Milan, Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen?
“Once you reach the quarter-finals, the Europa League starts to look a lot like the Champions League. We are in everything at the moment, we cannot try to make choices, whether it’s going all the way in the Europa League, the Coppa Italia, Serie A. We will try to play for them all.”
Gasperini was asked if this was the best Atalanta squad he has worked with during his tenure and what they are missing to mount a genuine Scudetto challenge.
“If I look at the squad we had when we reached the Champions League quarter-final against PSG, then certainly we had a lot of kids on the bench, but that was also our highest moment.
“We might be a little more complete now, but we were also not sure how those young players would evolve and they are doing very well. If it is the strongest Atalanta squad I’ve had or not, we’ll see over the next few months.
“The Scudetto is generally 90-95 even 100 points, whereas our best tended to be in the mid-70s. People keep asking about trophies, but the only realistic one for Atalanta is the Coppa Italia and we reached the Final twice. That is the one we can try to win.
“What we tend to do is grow players, help them develop and then quite rightly sell them on to bigger clubs, so we start again. This is the third different squad we’ve gone through in eight years, we sell the jewels and find new ones.
“The way I see it, reaching 70 points and fourth place in those circumstances is worth every bit as much as a Scudetto.”
#SerieA | #Gasperini: "Scudetto? Per l'#Atalanta l'unico trofeo fattibile è la #CoppaItalia"https://t.co/AEgjhhMV5Z
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) February 17, 2024