Former Manchester United and Atalanta goalkeeper Massimo Taibi said the Orobici ‘have a good chance’ of getting a result at Old Trafford. ‘They must play like Atalanta’.
The 51-year-old is currently the sporting director at Reggina and admitted he never went back to England after retiring from football.
But he knows exactly what Atalanta will meet when they arrive at the Theatre of Dreams on Wednesday.
“It’s a very exciting stadium,” Taibi told BergamoNews. “You have 70,000 people pushing you, so I just say that Atalanta must be careful, especially in the first 20 minutes. They will be looking to put then under pressure.”
Taibi experienced ups and downs during his time with Manchester United, after being voted the Man of the Match in his debut against Liverpool, but then made a historic mistake a few games later against Southampton.
He later spent four years at Atalanta between 2001 and 2005 and advised the Nerazzurri to stand up against the pressure from the fans at Old Trafford.
“You need to be strong, especially at the first impact. And you must know how to start again, respond immediately to the impact of United, who will find an extra weapon in their fans,” he said.
“They must play like Atalanta, as Gasperini’s team knows how to do. They must be aggressive and impose their own game.
“Manchester have quality and will push; I repeat that you have to be good at restarting and not let yourself get pegged back.”
But Taibi believes Atalanta have the quality to make life ‘difficult’ for United in Manchester on Wednesday.
“With classy players like [Josip] Ilicic and [Luis] Muriel, yes,” he said. “They can put them in difficulty, because United attacks but also leaves you the space to reply.”
The former goalkeeper doesn’t think it’s a mission impossible for La Dea and points at previous Gasperini’s previous experiences at Anfield against Liverpool and in Amsterdam against Ajax.
“Manchester United are strong,” he said. “On paper they can be even stronger than Atalanta. But La Dea must not distort itself. They must respect the opponent and yet be aware of their own strengths.
“After all, at Anfield or in Amsterdam, Atalanta were able to grasp results that seemed almost impossible on paper.
“Atalanta have a good chance of claiming a positive result.”
Atalanta will face former Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo in England and Taibi praised the Portuguese talisman.
“Well, you saw him in Italy,” he said. “He’s a sniper who… has no equal worldwide.”
Taibi e la magia dell’ @OldTraffordReds “Ti trascinano in 70mila ma l’ @Atalanta_BC può colpire lo United” – BergamoNews https://t.co/S0ycRYYnDq
— Bergamonews (@Bergamonews) October 19, 2021