On the eve of the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini gave an extended commentary to the UEFA press service.
Gian Piero Gasperini (photo: gettyimages.com)On his first European Cup final
- It feels great! This is a great achievement, which is a source of satisfaction from a really good season for the whole team. Is this the pinnacle of my career? In terms of achievements and prestige - definitely. In terms of satisfaction, fortunately, I have had many such moments, although perhaps not at such a high level.
I don't think that winning a tournament is always necessarily the parameter by which success is measured. Everyone has their own goals. When you manage to surpass them, as we did with Atalanta, you are very satisfied in any case. If we manage to add a trophy to this, then, of course, we will be even more satisfied.
About your career at Atalanta
- It all started eight years ago, very unexpectedly, as it usually happens with such good things. At that time, there were a lot of players in the youth team who were close to the first team, but they were hardly involved. That was indeed a turning point - since then, Atalanta's world has changed a bit. First, we got into the Europa League, and then the Champions League.
We reached the Champions League three times in a row and were a team that played very good football and scored a lot. The 2019/2020 season gave us a huge boost. We were very close to the semi-finals when we faced Paris Saint-Germain. It has always been something of a milestone that has slipped away, but I have to say that this year we have probably even reached a new level.
On the desire to win the European Cup
- This team has always wanted this. Sometimes there are teams that are good technically, but lack determination and hunger. From the very beginning, from the group stage, from the match in Lisbon, in a group where we were not favourites (Sporting was), we played great matches against strong opponents. Of course, the victory at Anfield further strengthened our confidence.
About the opponent in the final
- The achievements of this team speak for themselves. They have not lost this year. We have to fight a very strong opponent who has achieved outstanding results in the domestic arena. This is a very strong team. They play very compact, which makes it difficult to move the ball. It is difficult to create space in games against such teams. "Bayer play at a high tempo and are very technical in their attack. They are a great team, otherwise they would not have achieved such results. But I think we have great qualities as well. I hope we can cause them problems by not allowing them to create chances.
Our teams have similar game plans. I'm very happy about that, because when I started playing with this formation a few years ago, we were almost the only ones who used it. We looked a bit strange. Now in both the Champions League and the Europa League, there are many teams that play the same way, albeit with their own approach and style. Three defenders and three strikers - nowadays it's very fashionable. At least, it is very common.
