As his Atalanta side finalise their preparations ahead of the UEFA Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, Gian Piero Gasperini addressed the media in his pre-match press conference at Dublin Arena.
The Italian expressed his disappointment that Marten de Roon will be unavailable, with the Dutch midfielder having sustained an injury during last week’s Coppa Italia final against Juventus.
“I am disappointed that Marten [de Roon] won’t be involved – first and foremost because of what a player he is on the pitch,” Gasperini explained, “but above all because he’s a guy who deserved to be in a final. He’s given so much to Atalanta, it’s a real shame that he has to miss out on the most important match.”
Embed from Getty ImagesAtalanta suffered a 0-1 defeat to the Bianconeri in that aforementioned domestic cup final, with Gianluca Scamacca not included in the matchday squad through suspension. “In a game like that, it would have been crucial to have him because we don’t have a similar profile in terms of a centre-forward like him,” Gasperini commented, asked about the role the Italian forward can play.
“Over the last few months, he has come on leaps and bounds – not only in terms of goals, but also in terms of his performance levels in general.”
The 25-year-old could be crucial for Atalanta on Wednesday, and Gasperini stressed the importance of “doing a good job over the next 24 hours or so, to make sure we’re in a relaxed enough frame of mind. We really need to believe that we’ve done everything we needed to.”
“Having mathematically secured Champions League football on Sunday is a further step which allows us to be fully focused on this cup final. That was without a doubt very positive. I’ve got a lot of anticipation at this moment in time, we’ve prepared absolutely everything that we needed to prepare and now we’re waiting to go toe-to-toe with our opponents.”