Europa League: Gasperini, a great match is needed in Bergamo

BERGAMO, 02 MAY – “To get through the round we will have to play a great match in Bergamo”. Thus Gian Piero Gasperini after the 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final in Marseille. “Going out undefeated is a good result, Olympique has proven to be a strong team and this year they have only lost to PSG at home. We were good at not playing with presumption”, explains the Atalanta coach. The Nerazzurri coach maintains that more is needed in the attacking phase: “The goal from Scamacca, who is doing things of great quality, is very heavy and very beautiful for the execution and for the action itself, even if we weren’t able to give continuity to the offensive plays – he underlines -. In Bergamo we will need him at his best, as well as the other attackers, to create the conditions to get through the round. Tonight it wasn’t easy, they defended well. However, we were good at keeping the team high despite some moments of suffering.” For Gasperini, Kolasinac’s injury after 17 minutes changed plans: “It seems like a strain, we’ll see if he can be recovered before the end of the season. With his exit we had to adjust the defense and midfield,” he continues, referring to Pasalic’s entry into midfield with De Roon moving back to central defence. “The Velodrome is a wonderful stadium for its architecture, acoustics and what it transmits onto the pitch. He gave the home team an extra boost – concludes Gasperini -. Marseille maintained a great pace, it is no coincidence that they gave four goals to Villarreal and then also eliminated Benfica. I expected it like this. We, on the other hand, must be more continuous: we stuck to the game, to the team, to the defense, always keeping it very high.”