Gian Piero Gasperini saw the 5-0 destruction of Milan as a “crowning moment for a fantastic 2019” and is targeting another top four finish for Atalanta.
La Dea reached the Champions League Round of 16 last week, where they will face Valencia in February.
This was the first time all season they’ve been able to focus on one game and it showed, as they tore Milan to pieces at the Gewiss Stadium.
Gian Piero Gasperini saw the 5-0 destruction of Milan as a “crowning moment for a fantastic 2019” and is targeting another top four finish for Atalanta.
La Dea reached the Champions League Round of 16 last week, where they will face Valencia in February.
This was the first time all season they’ve been able to focus on one game and it showed, as they tore Milan to pieces at the Gewiss Stadium.
“We close a fantastic 2019 in which we achieved marvellous results with excellent performances. This crowns the season, really, now we go into the Christmas break and after that will have plenty more to do,” smiled the coach on DAZN.
“It was clear from the start that Ruslan Malinovskyi is a talent, then of course it takes a little while to adapt to Italian football, as you don’t get as much room or time to play as in other leagues.
“Our great strength is that we have 15-16 players who are inter-changeable and they all give their contribution, can be relied upon to fill any gaps.”
Papu Gomez opened the scoring after 10 minutes, but it was in the second half that they ran riot with Mario Pasalic, a Josip Ilicic brace and Luis Muriel.
“This was a game that went right for us from the very start. The defeat to Bologna hurt, probably because we had a hangover from the Champions League, but overall the lads have done an incredible job.
“Atalanta right now are good enough to be in amongst the ‘big’ clubs in Italy and you’ll see many of these players go on to great careers too.”
What is Gasperini aiming for after third place and the Coppa Italia Final last season?
“We want to qualify for Europe again. Whether it’s the Champions League is another matter, as Roma and Lazio are getting great results, but we want to be up there challenging and it’ll be our fourth year in a row fighting for the top four.”
The January transfer window is coming up and Atalanta have winger Dejan Kulusevski doing great things on loan at Parma. Could he return?
“Kulusevski is still an Atalanta player. He’s been training with the Atalanta first team since he was 16, so we knew he had talent and he is doing great things right now at Parma.
“We sent him out on loan because we had other players in his role and he really did need to play at this moment of his career. He found the ideal environment in Parma to make his mark straight away.”