Gian Piero Gasperini Blasts Self-Destructive Atalanta

Gian Piero Gasperini cut a frustrated character after his Atalanta side slumped to a 2-1 home defeat to Napoli on Saturday evening. La Dea gave the impression of being a better team on Walter Mazzarri’s second touchline debut for Partenopei but ended up empty-handed. 

Khvicha Kvaratsekhlia headed home on the stroke of halftime to fire Napoli 1-0 up during the break. Atalanta replied early in the second half, with Ademola Lookman scoring for the second time in his third appearance against the reigning Serie A champions. 

Atalanta had more promising opportunities in the second half, only for Marco Carnesecchi’s blunder to enable Elif Elmas to win the game for Napoli. It was only La Dea’s second home defeat in eight matches this season following an identical loss to Inter earlier this month.

Like in that fixture, Gasperini’s men went toe-to-toe with their rivals but couldn’t reap any reward. Atalanta shot themselves in the foot, and their long-serving manager couldn’t help but blame his team’s mistakes for another disappointing result. 

“Unfortunately, some incidents prevent us from raising the bar, despite the fact we play overall at the same level as teams like Inter, Napoli, and Juventus. When this team shakes off some of its fears, it really causes problems for the opposition,” the Atalanta coach said, as relayed by Gianluca Di Marzio.

“The game was on our side and yet we emerged empty-handed due to an error, something that is happening too often lately.“