Atalanta Bergamo is not at its best either. If PSG will not be able to count on Di Maria (suspended) and probably Mbappé (injured) for the quarter-final of the Champions League on August 12 in Lisbon (Portugal), his Italian opponent could, too, be reduced.
In the fight with Inter Milan for second place in Serie A, Bergamo leaves feathers. Half an hour into the game in Parma (1-2) last Tuesday, José Luis Palomino, the 30-year-old Argentine defender, had to give up his place. He is said to be suffering from muscle pain in his thigh. Examinations have yet to determine the duration of the unavailability of the former FC Metz player who could therefore be missing from Atalanta on August 12.
“The more the days go by, the more difficult it becomes to get Ilicic back”
But the big worry for the “Dea” is the absence of its top scorer Josip Ilicic (15 goals in Serie A) for several weeks now. Injured to an ankle, the 32-year-old Slovenian international striker seems to have already drawn a line on the match against PSG. “The more the days go by, the more difficult it becomes to recover Ilicic,” coach Gian Piero Gasperini told Gazzetta dello Sport. “It’s a hell of an absence. We don’t have another player with Ilicic’s characteristics. We have to adapt with Pasalic, Malinosvkyi and Gomez. You have to overcome this absence with other qualities, ”he added.
In addition, the performance of his men clearly left something to be desired on Tuesday. Even if it can be explained because of the many executives left on the bench at kick-off: Berat Djimisti, Luis Muriel, Hans Hateboer or Ruslan Malinovsky. “It may have been our worst first period of the season,” admitted Gasperini. But if we come back so well in the second half, it’s because the legs are there ”.
