Everything’s ready at Atalanta for the return leg of the UEFA Europa League quarter-final against Leipzig. The Nerazzurri have to show the same intensity, determination and strength as they did last week at Leipzig. As Davide Zappacosta said in the exclusive one-to-one pre-match interview: “We must be ready”.

Davide Zappacosta, getting back to what you said after the match Sassuolo v Atalanta, will Atalanta play with higher intensity, more anger and more determination against Leipzig tomorrow? It surely won’t be the Atalanta side we saw in Reggio-Emilia.

“No, of course, we can’t play the way we did in Reggio Emilia. As I said in the post-match interview, when you’re not in the zone, for various reasons, you struggle in the Serie A. Consequently, you start to have difficulties in the European competitions, too, because you face very organised teams, who are physically strong and run a lot. So, we must be ready, of course”.

How are Atalanta doing? How are you doing?

“Atalanta seem to be doing fine, don’t we? We train as best as we can every day, as the coach asks us to. We give everything during training sessions and matches. It’s very important. I think, though, when it’s a decisive moment, we’ll have to try harder, as we have always proved to cause difficulties for anyone when we’re mentally focused. However, when we lack something that can make a difference, we have trouble playing against anyone. So, we have to try harder to be fully focused”.

You’ll start from last week’s 1-1, which was the result of the first leg. The away goals don’t worth double anymore. It will be an open game.

“Yes, as the away goals rule has been abolished, matches are always open. You can also win away, as Chelsea did yesterday at Real Madrid but the games remain open, anyway. So, of course, we shouldn’t focus on the draw and the fact we’ve scored away. We have to start from scratch. We must play to win the match”.

What will this match be like? Will it be at high speed, with high intensity?

“It will certainly be a difficult match as we’ve already faced Bayer Leverkusen and Leipzig. We could see that these teams played with high intensity, and high quality and could cause trouble on counterattacks, physically. So, we must hold out, as the match will be very intense”.