Atalanta clearly beat Bologna and the Nerazzurri’s 5-0 win over the visitors leaves no room for any recrimination. After the bitterness of the draw against Roma, Atalanta could not leave any other points and as Gian Piero Gasperini also commented at the end of the match: “We wanted to win”.
“We won by a large margin, even though we were one man up but the team had started well, after a start with some technical difficulty, maybe due to the exaggerated desire to go fast. This was at the expense of technique, lucidity and sharpness. As soon as we calmed down, we did good things and we won the game”.
Was there too much eagerness to do, remembering what happened in Rome?
“Maybe a bit of this. We were too in a rush while shooting, we shot from exaggerated distances. We missed a few final passes, even some very easy ones but that was the result of an excessive boost”.
There have been 5 goals, which were one more beautiful than the other, as always.
“Those were beauties. The first half ended 2-0, but we had already had several opportunities. You could see we had leg, speed. As soon as we improved our technical quality, we would score. Then they got a bit out of control when they harshly fouled Romero, so it was a lot easier for us against a 10-man side. But I don’t think we would have wasted this match tonight”.
At the end of the first half, when you were 2-0 up, did you think of the reverse fixture?
“No, because we were one man up, although in football you never know and it can take a different turn. I think more of Rome than the reverse fixture, but that was our mistake. I was very confident tonight”.
And now Atalanta are in second place. There are two games left on this matchday and Lazio have another game in hand but Atalanta are currently second.
“Yes, I said it earlier, we need two points to mathematically qualify for the Europa League even if we have already qualified virtually. And this is the fifth year in a row we are doing so. We still don’t know how many points will be needed to qualify for the Champions League. The only thing we know is that the others have to hope we drop points, as if we don’t mess up, we finish second”.