Ruslan Malinovskyi concedes he hasn’t reached his peak yet and predicts ‘two tough games’ against Manchester United in the Champions League.
The 28-year-old has scored one goal and delivered one assist in nine appearances across all competitions so far this season.
However, his target is to improve what he did last term when he scored 10 goals and delivered 12 assists in 33 appearances with La Dea.
“I’ve always scored eight goals in league games, so I’d like to reach nine this season,” the Ukraine international told L’Eco di Bergamo.
“I always want to improve. My wife Roksana makes me a cake after every goal: now I’m scoring fewer goals, perhaps because too many sweets hurt.”
Cristiano Ronaldo would surely agree with the Atalanta star.
The Portuguese ace returns to Italy when Manchester United faces La Dea in the Champions League at the beginning of November.
Their first meeting in the group stage is at Old Trafford on October 20.
“Our target is to go beyond the group stage even if we know that it is not easy, especially in the best European competition,” said Malinovskyi.
“Everybody is still in the race to qualify for the knock-out stage. I expect two tough games against Manchester United, we hope to get good results.”
The Ukraine star had been linked with a return to Belgium in the summer, but he revealed he never thought about leaving La Dea.
“Those were just rumours from Belgian media, I’ve never thought about leaving.”
Le parole di #Malinovskyihttps://t.co/m0yR6xuUgJ
— CalcioNews24.com (@CalcioNews24) October 9, 2021