Gian Piero Gasperini outlines Atalanta’s ambitions in the Europa League ahead of the trip to Sturm Graz and insists his training sessions are not that gruelling. ‘I never killed anyone.’
It kicks off on Thursday in Austria at 17.45 UK time (16.45 GMT).
Sturm Graz are currently top of the Austrian league, ahead of the RB Salzburg side that Inter struggled to beat 2-1 in the Champions League last night.
“They are to be feared for that reason and the fact they are also doing well in Europe, so this will be a very important match,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“It will require an Atalanta performance suited to the task, as these are balanced fixtures that can become complicated. When you play such a tough group with three teams who are very close together, every result becomes crucial.
“It’s true that our victory in Lisbon gives us a small advantage, but I still feel qualification will go down to the wire.”
Gasperini is without Rafael Toloi and El Bilal Toure, but Teun Koopmeiners returns after he was rested for the weekend in their 2-0 Serie A victory over Genoa.
“We’ve had a satisfactory start to the season so far, but clearly every match is a new test and starts from scratch.”
Ademola Lookman told reporters that he has never experienced such intensive training sessions as when working with Gasperini at Atalanta.
“I don’t think that our training sessions are so hard, especially if we are playing every three days. I’ve never killed anyone, they all keep playing and enjoying their football.”
La Dea have always been eager to dampen down expectations and Gasp reacted predictably when asked if he would prefer to reach the Europa League Final this season or qualify for the Champions League in the Serie A top four.
“There are many big teams in the Europa League this season, plus we have to see who drops down from the Champions League too. It is always a wonderful experience for us to play in Europe, it really helps you to grow and mature, improve your general mentality and tempo.
“Our objective is just to go as far as possible.”