Atalanta Coach Gian Piero Gasperini concedes a 0-0 first leg Europa League play-off result with Copenhagen is “not great, but not negative either.”
The Orobici dominated the match and had 12 shots on goal, 10 of them on target, forcing numerous saves out of Jesse Joronen.
“The result is not great, but it’s not negative either,” Gasp told Sky Sport Italia.
Atalanta Coach Gian Piero Gasperini concedes a 0-0 first leg Europa League play-off result with Copenhagen is “not great, but not negative either.”
The Orobici dominated the match and had 12 shots on goal, 10 of them on target, forcing numerous saves out of Jesse Joronen.
“The result is not great, but it’s not negative either,” Gasp told Sky Sport Italia.
“We put in a strong performance, were unable to score and knew the decisive match would be in Copenhagen. We had wanted to get there with an advantage, but we are still in a strong position to qualify.
“The pitch doesn’t help. Perhaps opposition teams are a little more daring on their own turf and that allows us to play with more spaces opening up.
“Copenhagen will have home advantage, but we also feel confident going into the second leg. We did well tonight, we have the belief that we can get through to the group stage.
“Naturally, away fixtures in Europe are always going to be unpredictable, but over 90 minutes we can achieve qualification.
“There was a bit of bad luck, a bit of tension and fitness levels aren’t at their best, so there were several elements involved, but despite all of that, if you have 12 shots on goal then you have to score.”
Atalanta now have Roma coming up in Serie A on Monday evening, another very tough test.
“We have to focus on the next match and can’t look beyond that right now. We always said Europe would be a great boost for the club and seeing the crowd tonight makes me even more convinced that we want to enjoy another continental experience with our fans.
“We had been preparing for the group stage, then four days beforehand were told we had to prepare for a preliminary round, but we accepted that situation without complaint.”
The confusion is because with Milan excluded from Europe due to Financial Fair Play violations, Atalanta were for a few weeks bumped up to group stage entry, at least until the Rossoneri won their appeal and were reinstated.
Josip Ilicic has been out of action for weeks with a mystery infection that kept him in hospital.
“He is finally out of hospital, which is the positive thing. He needs another two or three weeks of treatment and then will be able to start training with the rest of the team. He is on the road to recovery and that’s the important thing.”