Matteo Ruggeri rues the opportunity Atalanta had to take the lead against Real Madrid, but maintains the UEFA Super Cup will ‘give us strength’ going forward.
It was a strong performance from La Dea in Warsaw, especially considering they were missing key players like Gianluca Scamacca, Nicolò Zaniolo, Teun Koopmeiners, Giorgio Scalvini and Rafael Toloi.
They held out well for an hour and almost took the lead when Thibaut Courtois made an incredible fingertip save on Mario Pasalic’s looping header.
That proved a turning point, as soon after Federico Valverde tapped in the opener, followed by a Kylian Mbappé strike for the final 2-0 result.
“We were unlucky on the Pasalic chance, or rather the goalkeeper made an astonishing save, but unfortunately individual incidents make all the difference in these one-off matches,” Ruggeri told Sky Sport Italia.
“They made the most of their chances, with two changes of pace they scored two goals. Nonetheless, I am happy because we faced the best team in the world right now and indeed over the last few years, we were able to limit them and created our own chances too.
“When their quality is allowed to emerge, they are ruthless.”
Ruggeri has seen Atalanta go from strength to strength
It was still a celebration for an Atalanta side who earned this opportunity after winning the Europa League in May and qualified for the Champions League.
After all, before Gian Piero Gasperini arrived in 2016, their main ambition was simply to avoid getting relegated into Serie B, so winning a UEFA trophy and challenging the Galacticos is an incredible achievement.
“This game must give us strength going forward for many reasons, to face all the competitions that we will have,” added youth academy product Ruggeri.
“There will be many matches and we need everyone, we will be ready.”
Could we please stop with glorifying defeats as ‘celebrations’ and ‘already winners to be here’? This is exactly why it has been well in excess of a decade since one of our teams won the champ league, and even longer since an italian side won the super cup. A final is to be won. These clubs are representing Serie A. Not San Marino. We used to have standards.
When AC Milan gets back ro employing Italians rather than foreign players perhaps Milanisti can talk.
Sportiello, torriani, Calabria, gabbia, Florenzi, terraciano, pobega, zeroli, liberali, Bartesaghi, camarda. Are these Kenyan players, Vittorio?