Igor Tudor feels ‘a draw would’ve been fair’ for Verona, but admits Atalanta ‘deserved’ the win for taking their chances.
Hellas had been given the perfect start with a Giovanni Simeone goal at the Bentegodi, but Aleksei Miranchuk and a deflected Teun Koopmeiners strike turned it around for the 2-1 away victory.
It was the first home defeat for Verona since Tudor took over from sacked Eusebio Di Francesco.
His team had come back from 3-0 down to beat Venezia 4-3 last week, but this time they were on the end of a turnaround.
“Last week’s game was nothing like this. I think we played well, had the right approach from the start, created many chances. A draw would’ve been fair, but Atalanta scored more goals than us and therefore deserve the win,” Tudor told DAZN.
“We tried to raise the tempo and intensity, but Atalanta are a great team, there were deflections and things that didn’t go our way. I congratulate my lads on the performance and now we prepare for the Coppa Italia.”
Considering their form, are Verona targeting a potential long run in that tournament?
“We’ll see, my idea is to rotate a little and we’ll also have to see how we are doing with injuries. Antonin Barak wasn’t ready yet after a flu and so we didn’t want to run any risks today, but he should be back for the next game.”