Djimsiti seeks no Atalanta alibi: ‘Club Brugge deadly counter-attacks’ | OneFootball

Berat Djimsiti was in no mood to look for alibis after Atalanta went out of the Champions League to Club Brugge. ‘They are a good team and were deadly on the counter-attack.’

This play-off felt cursed from the first leg’s 2-1 defeat sealed by a comical penalty decision in stoppages, then they found themselves 3-0 down here at half-time despite forcing saves, hitting the woodwork and denied by goal-line clearances.

When Ademola Lookman did get them back into it on his return from a lengthy injury lay-off, his penalty was then parried by Simon Mignolet to further take the wind out of their sails.

“It is difficult to find the words right now. We congratulate Brugge, they had three goals with three counter-attacks, they knew what they were doing and made our game more complicated,” Djimsiti told Sky Sport Italia.

“I still saw spirit from the team, we never gave up and despite this defeat, we have to get our heads up and focus on the next Serie A match.”

Unlucky Atalanta take responsibility

BERGAMO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Chemsdine Talbi of Club Brugge KV celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between Atalanta BC and Club Brugge KV at Gewiss Stadium on February 18, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce/Getty Images)

Atalanta had such an unlucky Champions League campaign from start to finish, including wasting a remarkable number of opportunities in the 0-0 draw with Celtic and sustaining so many injuries.

However, Djimsiti was in no mood for seeking alibis after a 5-2 aggregate defeat over two legs against Club Brugge.

“We had a lot of injuries, but Brugge are a good team, they play well and if anything they caused us more problems in the first leg, but were deadly on the counter-attack. It was unlucky, but we too must look at what we can do better, because in a game like this we cannot go 3-0 down at half-time,” added the defender.

“Now we have to recharge our batteries, take it one game at a time and learn from our mistakes.”

Atalanta are also out of the Coppa Italia following a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Bologna, so now all their focus must be on Serie A.