Gasperini: ‘Atalanta verified players, did not snub’ Supercoppa | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini denies ‘snubbing’ the Supercoppa Italiana with his surprising choices in the 2-0 defeat to Inter. ‘This came at the right time for us to verify players.’

The coach made some very surprising choices going into this semi-final in Riyadh, leaving star names like Charles De Ketelaere, Ademola Lookman and Ederson on the bench in favour of Nicolò Zaniolo, Lazar Samardzic and Giorgio Scalvini.

“I was not experimenting at all. We have many players, we had a long and tough run of games, the Supercoppa came at the right time for us to verify players who contributed, but played relatively little compared to others,” Gasperini told Sport Mediaset.

“We were up against Inter in the semi-final and it was the right time to try this.”

They only came on after Denzel Dumfries had opened the scoring with an acrobatic attempt from a corner, followed soon after by the Dutchman’s scorcher off the underside of the crossbar.

Ederson did manage to get Atalanta back into the running, but his goal was disallowed following a very long VAR review for De Ketelaere’s offside position.

“There were moments in the first half where we gave the ball away too cheaply, but we created many more scoring opportunities after the restart,” added Gasperini.

“There were some incidents we were not fortunate with, for example the corner was not a corner on the opening goal, there was a foul on Scalvini and probably De Vrij offside.

“It became more difficult once we were behind, but it was a very useful experience.”

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Gasperini accused of ignoring Supercoppa

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – JANUARY 02: Yann Aurel Bisseck of FC Internazionale battles for possession with Nicolo Zaniolo of Atalanta during the Italian Super Cup Semi-Final match between FC Internazionale and Atalanta at Al Awwal Park on January 02, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images)

These words do not help Gasperini’s defence of his choices, because Atalanta are very clearly not putting the focus on the Supercoppa and are accused of treating it almost as an inconvenience for their campaign.

“We did not snub anything, we tried to win the game against a very strong opponent. In order to win this type of match, we need to make fewer mistakes at both ends,” insisted the Atalanta coach.

“We created many chances over the two halves, including that Scalvini header before the break. Inter made the most of our mistakes. It was an important opportunity, we cannot have De Ketelaere and Lookman play 90 minutes for 56 games. I played Brescianini, Samardzic, Zaniolo, these are not exactly unknowns.

“There were eventually two matches to be played in the Supercoppa. I was glad to see Scalvini back after a long injury and this test in midfield can be repeated, because that is an area where we are a bit short on options.”

Because they lost the semi-final, the Bergamo boys can now return home, as there is no match for third place.

Gasperini is the key to this Atalanta success story, winning the Europa League, reaching the Coppa Italia Final and this season sitting top of the Serie A table, despite so many players coming through.

“All players have quality, I try to bring more out of them and the best way to give them confidence is to let them play in games like this,” concluded the coach.

“Inter are one of the best sides in Europe, so doing well against them and getting the sense we could’ve done better is reassuring going forward.”