The weeks follow one another but are not the same for Charles De Ketelaere at Atalanta. Double scorer against AS Roma at the weekend in an important match for European qualification, the Belgian had a much more delicate evening against Juventus in the Coppa Italia final.
The Turinese won 1-0 while De Ketelaere did not deliver a remarkable game before being taken off at half-time.
Juventus couldn’t have started the game better. After four minutes of play, Vlahovic opened the scoring for the Bianconeri. The Serbian, launched by Andrea Cambiaso, resisted the return of Isak Hien, presented himself in front of Marco Carnesecchi and deceived the right goalkeeper.
After letting the storm pass, the Dea finally got its head out of the water and Charles De Ketelaere created the only opportunity of the first period for the Bergamasques, but he was unable to get his half-volley on target.
After a first half that was far from exceptional, the Red Devil was replaced by El Bilal Touré at the break, paying for Atalanta’s poor encounter. In the second period, Gasperrini’s men failed to reverse the trend despite several big chances for Lookman, Koopmeiners and Miranchuk.
A “ghost” defended by Gasperrini
La Gazzetta dello Sport described the Red Devil as a “ghost” after this difficult performance, giving it a score of 4.5 out of 10. The Italian sports daily also points to the absence of Gianluca Scamacca, suspended for this final, to explain the lack of offensive inspiration from Atalanta.
Praised after his good performances in recent weeks, De Ketelaere was this time strongly criticized by the Italian press. But he was nevertheless able to count on the support of his trainer. Gasperrini did not deny the Belgian’s poor performance but tried to put things into perspective. “From Ketelaere? Ah, there are always ups and downs, but I know he will be ready for the Lecce match (Atalanta’s next match, Editor’s note),” he explained to Corriere dello Sport.
”You can’t always play well. I am not disappointed with his performance,” he continued, emphasizing the good defensive performance of the opponent, “Juventus defended well on him and Lookman. In this respect, we have indeed missed the strength of Scamacca.”
After this failed final, Atalanta and Charles De Ketelaere will have a new opportunity to win a trophy next Wednesday in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen.
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2024-05-16 12:43:00
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