Percassi: ‘Atalanta will play 56 games this season’

Atalanta CEO Luca Percassi points out they will play 56 competitive matches by the end of this season and responds to Roma criticism over their rescheduled game.

It kicks off at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s five Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.

The mood in Bergamo is extraordinary after winning the Europa League semi-final with Bayer Leverkusen, so what would Percassi say to the squad?

“The coach gives the team talks, so he knows what to do,” Percassi told DAZN.

“The principle we’ve been carrying on for a few months is that we don’t want to have regrets, so we give our all in every game, knowing that we deserve to be here, we are proud to challenge at this level and at the same time feel responsibility too.”

Atalanta have a game in hand

This is a head-to-head for the fifth Champions League qualifying spot, as they are locked together on 60 points, although La Dea have a game in hand.

That match against Fiorentina cannot be played until June 2, as their calendar is packed with the Coppa Italia Final and Europa League Final coming up.

Roma complained having that fixture played after the season is over will inevitably falsify the fairness of the league.

“All I can do is say Atalanta have been playing three times a week consistently for months. We all know the dramatic incident that caused the game with Fiorentina to be postponed and they were playing regularly too, so it was simply impossible to organise any other time,” added Percassi.

“It’s pretty clear, if you are objective, that Atalanta had no other choice. By the end of the season, we will have played 56 competitive matches and that is extraordinary.”

The Serie A match with Fiorentina was called off an hour before kick-off on March 17 when Viola director Joe Barone collapsed from a heart attack at the team hotel.

He was rushed to hospital and died two days later.