Gasperini: Atalanta will learn to improve against Man Utd
The La Dea manager thinks his side can learn from their clash against the Red Devils, who he believes are ‘not in crisis’.
will lock horns with
Manchester Unitedin Group F tomorrow and they are the third Premier League club
Gian Piero Gasperini
’s side have to go against in three years of Champions League.
They encountered with Manchester City in their first-ever Champions League season in 2019-20 and took on Liverpool last season.
“
We will learn something as it happened with Manchester City and Liverpool. Premier League clubs are elite level. It’s a difficult game, but it offers an opportunity to improve,”
Gasperini said at a pre-match press conference at Old Trafford.
“It was a hard lesson against Manchester City two years ago,” the coach said, recalling La Dea’s 5-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in 2019.
“The level is very high. However, the next two games against United won’t be decisive for the qualification.”
Atalanta are without five key players, Rafael Toloi, Matteo Pessina, Berat Djimsiti, Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer. Gasperini was asked how he copes with that.
“
The good thing is that I won’t choose the wrong XI, it will be easier not to make mistakes in the starting line-ups or with substitutions, it’s the only advantage I see,”
he said.
“Clearly, we are missing important players, we’ll need to adapt to it. However, I don’t think Atalanta should change their identity, we’ve never done that. That’s how we managed to get to these stages.”
Cristiano Ronaldo will ace Atalanta for the first time since departing Juventus in the summer. The Portugal international has met the back of the net three times in six games against Atalanta.
“
He is an extraordinary player, his numbers speak from themselves,”
Gasperini said.
“He keeps scoring and even if Manchester United have slipped up in the Premier League lately, their value is really high.
“We know it will be a difficult game, but it’s normal when you play at this level. Manchester United will react after their defeat against Leicester City, but this is a new competition.
“I watched the game against Leicester, and you must take the opponents into account. We play against a top team and I don’t think they are in crisis.”
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