Gian Piero Gasperini explains why Charles De Ketelaere is so different with Atalanta compared to Milan, as he’ll face his parent club in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals. ‘It’s greater confidence and physical fitness.’
La Dea swept Sassuolo aside 3-1 at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo this evening, thanks to a pair of De Ketelaere goals and then his assist for Aleksei Miranchuk.
Daniel Boloca netted a consolation goal with practically the last kick of the game.
“Everyone did very well, the second goal in particular was very impressive, as it involved all three strikers,” said Gasperini in a press conference.
“I liked the level of attention paid, because there have been some shock results in the Coppa Italia and nothing was to be taken for granted, but we had the right approach.”
The quarter-final with Milan is expected to be at San Siro on January 10, although that date is yet to be confirmed.
“The format of this Coppa Italia is a bit unbalanced, sometimes it can be in your favour, sometimes against. It’s not easy to be away from home beating Inter or Milan, but this is a competition where if you win two games, you reach the semi-final.
“There are difficulties that are evident, but we want to keep going.”
It will be a special game for De Ketelaere, who is still on loan from Milan with an option to buy and wants to prove a point against his old club.
“Quality players adapt well, so that was never a problem. The big difference I think is that he has greater confidence and physical fitness here. This is a good signal, better than any of those he’s sent so far,” added Gasperini.
New signing Isak Hien was already on the bench after his arrival from Hellas Verona, while Jose Luis Palomino made his comeback as a late substitute following a long injury lay-off.
“We will start to settle Hien in from tomorrow. It was a long injury for Palomino, so I wanted to give him a bit of a morale-booster. Now we hope to get Rafael Toloi back as well from next week, so really only Hans Hateboer and El-Bilal Toure are still out of action. It’s a big improvement from a few weeks ago.”
#CoppaItalia | #Atalanta, #Gasperini: "Roma e poi Milan: sarà un tour de force. Pericolo infortuni"https://t.co/7KjZrzQgFw
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 3, 2024