Gian Piero Gasperini explains his choices as Atalanta visit Monza after ‘the high point of our history’ eliminating Liverpool to reach the Europa League semi-final.
It kicks off at the U-Power Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
This is a remarkable season for La Dea, who eliminated Liverpool from the Europa League on Thursday and will face Olympique Marseille in the semi-final.
Before that, they have the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Fiorentina coming up on Wednesday, having lost the first leg 1-0 in Florence.
“We have to take it one game at a time. It is a very balanced, tight and hard-fought league, especially in this period, so we have to focus on this now,” Gasperini told DAZN.
There were fireworks over the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday at the final whistle against Liverpool and the celebrations went on well into the night.
“Undoubtedly, it was a fantastic night for the President, for all the fans and for all of Bergamo. Eliminating Liverpool and reaching the Europa League semi-final represents the high point of our history.
“It is wonderful to be in all these competitions and we will try to go as far as we can in all of them.”
Gasperini gambles
The packed schedule makes it inevitable that Gasperini has to reshuffle his squad, so El Bilal Toure, Mitchel Bakker and Ademola Lookman all get rare starts this evening.
“Squad rotation is necessary, especially as we had Liverpool, today Monza, then Fiorentina, these are all quality teams in the space of seven days,” confirmed the coach.
“It is necessary, but also a big opportunity for a player like Toure who had never started, Bakker and others, to show what they can do.”