Gasperini: ‘Football is a different sport’ after Atalanta penalty rage | OneFootball

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini feels the soft penalty call for Club Brugge in the Champions League play-off shows ‘football is becoming a completely different sport.’

It was by no means a great performance from La Dea in Bruges, as they were deservedly a goal behind to the early Ferran Jutglà strike, but recovered with a Mario Pasalic looping header and had several big chances in the second half.

They expected to leave with a 1-1 draw until the Turkish referee decided in stoppages that Isak Hien glancing Gustaf Nilsson’s nose with an arm as he was in full control of the ball represented a penalty foul.

When Nilsson converted for the 2-1 result, Gasperini stormed off down the tunnel without waiting for the final whistle, while his players vented their fury on the field.

After a weekend of controversial refereeing decisions in Serie A, none of those calls were anywhere near as bad as this one.

“Evidently we are contaminating Europe as well, but the real tragedy is football is being contaminated,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“Listening to players and coaches, we all have a completely different idea of what represents a foul. The tragedy is that there everyone dives now to steal something, get a player booked or sneak a penalty.

“Football is now going in a direction that has nothing whatsoever to do with the sport. We have to accept this call, but I honestly no longer even understand the rules now and I certainly don’t like it.”

Atalanta and Gasperini furious at referee

epa11891504 Referee Umut Meler shows a yellow card as Atalanta players protest in added time during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-offs 1st leg match between Club Brugge KV and Atalanta BC, in Bruges, Belgium, 12 February 2025. EPA-EFE/OLIVIER MATTHYS

The referee then booked Hien and Juan Cuadrado during the furious protests, so did he offer an explanation to Atalanta?

“Absolutely not,” replied Gasperini. “The trouble now is we all have to run around like penguins, with our arms glued to the sides of our bodies, jump like penguins too. The rules are now so far away from what the players say or think. Football is becoming a completely different sport.”

Looking beyond the rage over that penalty, Atalanta had struggled to deal with Club Brugge’s intensity and high press for long periods, so how will they deal with needing to win the second leg by two clear goals?

“We need a huge achievement. We have to open up much more, otherwise they will happily pass around in their own final third for 30 minutes just giving it back to the goalkeeper,” continued Gasperini.

“It was a bad start tonight, but we did improve. You cannot always be at your best and have to take the opponents into account too, but in the second half the biggest chances to score were ours and in the end we lost.”

Can Gasperini harness the rage that Atalanta players are feeling to make that constructive energy for the second leg?

“It is the least difficult game to prepare, but before then we’ve got Cagliari and will have to see who is left. We played our game, it is never easy away from home, so we will do our best.”