Gian Piero Gasperini feels Atalanta discovered that ‘incidents and moments’ are decisive within the Champions League after their exit to Membership Brugge. ‘We had extra scoring alternatives, however they took theirs higher.’
They misplaced the primary leg of this play-off 2-1 with a ridiculous stoppage-time penalty choice, then this night have been caught 3 times on the counter-attack, repeatedly hit the woodwork and noticed Simon Mignolet parry the Ademola Lookman penalty after the Nigeria worldwide had given them some hope off the bench.
“They have been two somewhat unusual video games, because the Champions League is a match determined by incidents and moments,” after the
“We conceded a aim right away, then one other moments after hitting the woodwork, so that they made essentially the most out of each state of affairs. It was unimaginable to enter the break 3-0 down after these performances.
“The staff at all times performed with dignity, created many scoring alternatives, missed a penalty, had a goal-line clearance. Any of these moments might’ve modified the sport.”
Lookman made his comeback from a number of weeks out injured and made an instantaneous distinction coming off the bench, so does Gasperini remorse not beginning the Ballon d’Or candidate?
“I’ve extra information than you do on his situation,” replied the coach. “Lookman’s first sport with the staff was yesterday and till a few days in the past he struggled to kick the ball. It’s too simple to criticise whenever you don’t know the state of affairs.”
Gasperini defends his Atalanta choices
Atalanta have had a , additionally going out of the Coppa Italia and falling behind in Serie A, whereas Membership Brugge in each legs seemed bodily a lot sharper. Is the lengthy season taking it out of the squad?
“I’d say we held out to the top, regardless of the actual fact lacking the penalty somewhat dampened our enthusiasm,” insisted Gasperini.
“The issue is that Membership Brugge have some gamers with outstanding tempo. Undoubtedly, we suffered in these one-on-one conditions and there weren’t that lots of them, however they made essentially the most of each single one. The third aim was a implausible end, they made essentially the most of each likelihood and we might’ve finished higher with our ending.
“This can be a competitors the place moments could make an enormous distinction and over the 2 legs, we had many extra scoring alternatives, however they took theirs higher. We will solely give credit score to this younger, recent and vivacious staff, the elimination is honest and we’re left with regrets.”
This whole European marketing campaign has felt considerably cursed for Gasperini’s males, from the variety of wasted alternatives within the 0-0 draw with Celtic to lacking out on direct entry to the Spherical of 16 by only one level.
“We had a rare interval of type that coincided with Retegui scoring many targets, with De Ketelaere and Lookman in nice form too. That ran for a couple of months, however within the final six weeks we had Lookman’s damage, then Retegui and De Ketelaere weren’t as constant as earlier than, which is to be anticipated over the course of a marketing campaign,” defined Gasperini.
“Maldini is out and we don’t have every other strikers to usher in, so we should adapt with Brescianini and Samardzic having completely different traits. In the event you rating a couple of extra targets, the efficiency is made to look higher, however we’ve struggled not too long ago to complete these probabilities.
“Now that we’re out of the Champions League, I believe the squad could have time to recuperate, get again on observe and have a robust finish to the season.”