He will be on the pitch for the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals Liverpool-Atalanta 0-3 LIVE
Goal by Scamacca in the 38th and 61st minutes. Pasalic in the 83rd minute.
No quarter-final at Liverpool tonight for Sead Kolasinac. Atalanta’s Bosnian defender suffered a muscle strain in his left adductor during this morning’s training session in the Nerazzurri training camp. His condition will be better evaluated in the coming days.
Eve:
“We got the favourites, a group of champions capable of renewing themselves by bringing in young players, but Klopp also knows that matches have to be played.” Gian Piero Gasperini’s thoughts on the eve of the match are a prudent call to arms for his Atalanta, at Anfield against Liverpool without the worry of a challenge at any cost but far from being on a tourist trip.
“It’s a Europa League quarter-final and we’re in all three competitions. No priorities, no choices: we’ll play it to the best of our ability,” he says.
The Bergamo team are coming off the back of a double defeat in Florence in the semi-final of the Italian Cup and in Cagliari in the championship, a slip that left its mark as admitted by defender Sead Kolasinac: “We analyzed the mistakes, we didn’t like losing at the last minute. Anfield is one stadium that transmits the energy of its fans: for us it is another obstacle, but we can’t wait to challenge it.”
The Bosnian international, speaking of obstacles for the return match on 18 April, is one of six players within a booking of a booking at Atalanta together with Djimsiti, Scalvini who remained at home injured, Holm and Lookman, practically half the team. But Gasperini, who puts Hien back in the middle of Djimsiti and Kolasinac himself with Toloi returning to the bench, has many solutions up front: Koopmeiners behind Scamacca and De Ketelaere, or Miranchuk, or Pasalic, or Lookman who is on a yellow card from disqualification.
The only name announced, in goal: “Musso brought us this far and he deserves to play, as he supported Carnesecchi’s growth”, cut the Nerazzurri coach short. The field factor had already failed in the two previous matches in group D of the Champions League, respectively on 3 November 2020 in Bergamo and on the 25th at Anfield, 5-0 for the English in the first leg and an Ilicic-Gosens feat in the return. A comparison that Gasperini was the first to recognize as unlikely: “There will be three or four of us left, Liverpool have a few more. Klopp is exceptional in knowing how to renew himself while keeping the champions, moreover he knows how to impose a mentality: for me he is a reference. And this time there will be an audience.” Three and a half years ago, empty stadiums due to the anti-Covid-19 restrictions, the pandemic paid for by Bergamo and the province with more than 6 thousand victims. Thursday evening, however, will still be a celebration of sport and people, with 2,140 Atalanta fans in the away section: “Living experiences like these without them would have been a regret – concludes Gasperini -.
The audience in itself is a spectacle, they sing when they are happy, they cheer on their team. The greatest success is being able to have it again.”
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2024-04-11 20:42:19
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