“My greatest feeling is one of waiting. In the sense that we believe we have prepared everything we had to prepare, now we wait to compare ourselves. We will have to be good at finding the right serenity again. Personally, I am disappointed by De Roon’s absence, for the value in player’s pitch and why he deserved a final: he gave a lot to Atalanta, I’m sorry he has to lose the most important match.” Thus Gian Piero Gasperini, in a press conference, on the eve of the Europa League final between his Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen.
But how do you deal, he is asked, with a rival who hasn’t lost in 51 games? “With the awareness that we are facing a great team: the numbers, the performances achieved over the months speak for themselves – replies Gasperini -. But in our journey we have faced, both in Italy and abroad, many very strong teams. A bit of self-esteem is there we have it.” “We still regret the match against Juventus – he continues – which we arrived at not at our best. But now there is another match, another final, another cup. We have no alibis”. Then again on Bayer: “it’s a very well-organised team, beyond the quality of the individuals, with various solutions, not only in attack. It’s a flexible team, which defends very well and restarts very well: it’s worth all the results what he did, we will have to give a very precise, very careful performance, we too will have to have great precision as an organisation.”
Xabi Alonso has decided to stay at Leverkusen, will Gasperini do the same with the Dea after the final in Dublin? “You don’t know the right moment when you get there, we don’t have a crystal ball – he replies -. They say that the right moment is when you win, so that you don’t lose consideration. But we never think about when you leave, we live in the present more than about the future. What Xabi Alonso has done is very beautiful and positive, an example.”
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2024-05-22 12:37:26
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