Gian Piero Gasperini explains what happened with that chaotic substitution against Sporting, celebrates Atalanta guaranteeing Europa League top spot and tells Gianluca Scamacca what must improve.
All they needed was a point to be sure of locking down first place in the group and therefore by-passing the dangerous play-offs against a side dropping down from the Champions League.
Scamacca’s ferocious long-range strike had given them the lead, cancelled out by substitute Marcus Edwards, and they survived a scare when Pedro Goncalves hit both uprights with the same shot.
“Undoubtedly, the first objective for the season was to finish first and we achieved it,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was not easy against the team with the most quality, so this is very satisfying.”
Atalanta had won 2-1 in Lisbon with a dominant first half performance that fell away after the break and risked a similar situation in Bergamo.
“Scamacca wasted a few chances, but he is always a dangerous presence. Let’s not forget he scored another that was disallowed by millimetres for offside. Clearly, he has real margin for improvement in many respects, now we hope he can train regularly and focus on those details to find the consistency we’re waiting for.
“He has this power in the shot. I’ve seen many strikers in my career and there are few with that kind of power and precision from distance. It’s a fantastic resource to have. He doesn’t make the most of his height and ought to do that more as well.”
There was a chaotic moment during the second half when Atalanta were trying to replace Giorgio Scalvini with Aleksei Miranchuk, but Teun Koopmeiners was taken off instead.
“I had decided to move Marten de Roon into defence and Koopmeiners in midfield, with Miranchuk who was going to be in an attacking role.
“There was a lack of communication between us, it was a mistake, but at the end of the day, my move paid off!” laughed the coach.
Atalanta had more problems late on, as Sead Kolasinac was visibly limping as he left the field, with Rafael Toloi and Jose Luis Palomino already unavailable.
“Sporting were able to put on fresh legs and we had problems there, also as Berat Djimsiti had flu.”
Atalanta had won 2-1 in Lisbon with a dominant first half performance that fell away after the break and risked a similar situation in Bergamo.
THE SAME HAPPENED AGAIN