He scored the brace that allowed Atalanta to beat Olympiacos 2-1 in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout round playoffs. Berat Djimsiti spoke on the eve of the second leg and presented the fixture against the Greeks: “It’ll be a hard-fought match”.

Berat Djimsiti, it’s the second leg against Olympiacos. Are you ready to go on the attack if necessary?

“Yes, I am ready to get a hat-trick this time. No [laughing]. Of course, it was amazing for me personally, and especially for the team. It was a crucial win to come here to fight for the qualification”.

What match are you expecting? They are counting a lot on their fans’ support who are returning, even if only 50 % of them, to the stadium.

“I’m expecting it to be a hard-fought match against a strong team, of course. But we’ll do our best. We’ll do what we do. We’ll try to get through this round. Their fans will be amazing, of course. It’s a beautiful stadium. But it motivates us as well”.

You can have two results that could play out well for you. You can draw or win tomorrow. So, on a psychological level, you can start with more confidence?

“Well, yes. It’s true. We have two possible results at hand. We always try to control the game, anyway, as everybody knows. We always try to attack and control the match. Having two possible results at hand helps, of course. But won’t focus on it”.

You’re still missing many players in the attack. Did the coach make you do anything different this week, after the first leg and before the second one?

“No. We’ve been having this problem for a couple of days, in the last two matches, we’re missing forwards. But we have other attacking players, anyway, who can cover those roles. We’ve been trying to help them find goal-scoring positions. We’ve been trying to overcome this difficulty all together”.