Gasperini: ‘Juventus did not do more than Atalanta’

Gian Piero Gasperini insists Juventus ‘did not do more’ than Atalanta to win the Coppa Italia Final, but sorely missed suspended Gianluca Scamacca and paid for that early goal.

La Dea were hoping to win only the second piece of silverware in their history after the 1963 Coppa Italia, and what would’ve been the first trophy in Gasperini’s entire coaching career.

However, Dusan Vlahovic sprung the offside trap for an early goal after four minutes and this is the situation Max Allegri’s Juve relish, holding out with a rock-solid defence.

There was only one shot on target, but it wouldn’t have counted due to a foul on Danilo, while both Ademola Lookman and Fabio Miretti hit the woodwork.

“We were up against a strong opponent that took an early lead and defended very well. I think Atalanta played well, we held the initiative for long periods and could not create many scoring opportunities, but still had the chances to turn it around,” Gasperini told Sport Mediaset.

“I don’t think Atalanta played badly, not at all. Our opponents certainly did not do more than us on the night to win it.”

This was the first of two Cup Finals for Atalanta this season, as they will also face Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin on May 22.

The worst news perhaps came during the second half when Marten de Roon went down suddenly and burst into tears, seeming to sustain a knee injury.

Gasperini still without silverware

“We are disappointed, but not so let down by this match. We played our game, it is a narrow defeat and naturally we are said, but we have important objectives still to be achieved in Serie A and the Europa League,” continued Gasperini.

“We’ll get Scamacca back, but losing De Roon with Kolasinac already out is a problem. I am above all sad for the players, because without doubt we lose a lot without certain individuals.”

Atalanta usually are so strong when moving the ball quickly and swarming all over teams, but they rarely did that this evening.

“We moved the ball around too slowly, as we rather easily got to the edge of the box and then seemed to grind to a halt. Being without Scamacca for this particular game was a big loss, because he has this physicality, strength and the timing of the movement too. We alternated Lookman, De Ketelaere and Toure, but they do not have his characteristics.”

The early goal seemed to be a psychological blow for Atalanta too, though they did pin Juve back in the second half.

“Obviously, once they take the lead, Juve know how to defend very well and it is difficult to open up spaces. A few more opened up after the break, also because we pressured them constantly, but these are always balanced games where one incident can make the difference,” concluded Gasperini.

“I maintain Atalanta played well against a Juventus team that I consider to be strong and we allowed very few counter-attacks in the circumstances. There was the very real risk of more counter-attacks, but I don’t really remember many dangerous situations.”