Gian Piero Gasperini admits Atalanta’s season now depends on the Europa League quarter-final with RB Leipzig. ‘That will be the crossroads.’
La Dea slipped further down the Serie A standings with today’s 2-1 defeat to Sassuolo and now risk not qualifying for Europe next term.
“I rotated the squad because playing away in Europe on Thursday and then again on Sunday afternoon is not easy,” said the coach in his press conference.
“I wanted fresh legs, but we didn’t have the quality and precision needed. It was an open game in the first half, we made a clumsy error on the goal with the counter-attack and I honestly expected better.
“We’ve done pretty badly in the second half of the season in Serie A for many reasons, including injuries and international duty. We were rarely able to maintain that competitiveness over the various competitions.”
If Atalanta don’t want their campaign to be considered a failure, they need to reach the Europa League semi-final, having drawn the first leg of their quarter-final 1-1 away to RB Leipzig.
“The crossroads is Thursday. If we were to reach the Europa League semi-final, that would be a good achievement for the season. If that doesn’t happen, there are seven games left in Serie A and we need to do something special to qualify for Europe.”
Let’s hope they deservedly beat Leipzig. It will be a shame not to see Atalanta in Europe next season – they have been a positive addition to the Europe, playing attractive football. Getting to the final of the Europa league would be deserved after their effort these past years.