Gian Piero Gasperini Atalanta Europa League (Picture by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) (Picture by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Gian Piero Gasperini bites again at Pep Guardiola’s well-known quote about dealing with Atalanta, insisting ‘success isn’t just lifting a trophy’ and ‘soccer can’t simply be the end result in any respect prices.’
The coach was one of many audio system on the Pageant dello Sport in Trento, organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport, and regarded again over his extraordinary time in Bergamo.
Coming to Atalanta in the summertime of 2016 and overseeing totally different generations of Dea gamers come by, he’s the closest factor Italian soccer has to a Sir Alex Ferguson determine at Manchester United.
But it was only some months in the past that he lifted his first piece of silverware, the Europa League, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 within the Closing.
Gasperini sees past Atalanta silverware
“Success isn’t just lifting that trophy, even when it was an unimaginable night time and represents all of the arduous work we’ve completed through the years,” mentioned Gasperini.
“I at all times fought in opposition to this mentality of the end result being the one factor, in any respect prices. Soccer can’t simply be that, the aim is to surpass your self and your individual limitations.
“There’s a journey that every of us in soccer goes by, however success isn’t just the end result. Too usually this concept will get created to place stress on, however errors assist us to be taught and enhance.”
Atalanta have been accustomed to bouncing up and down between Serie A and B, however Gasperini has taken them to be Champions League regulars.
“There may be nice ardour for the workforce on this metropolis and I’ve a robust sense of belonging. My concepts have been taken on by the membership and loved by the followers. It was initially a really younger squad that gave me quite a lot of satisfaction, that they had this actual adrenaline inside them. In these days, we’d at all times rating within the opening 20 minutes of each match.”
This man-for-man method has earned Atalanta a fame in Europe, the place Manchester Metropolis supervisor Guardiola famously mentioned enjoying in opposition to them was ‘like going to the dentist.’ Is it one thing Gasp appreciates?
“I believe we’ve gone past that, as a result of Atalanta don’t simply attempt to do harm limitation, we goal to harm the opponents and create one thing stunning. We take that angle no matter who we’re up in opposition to.”
That was completely encapsulated by the 3-0 Europa League victory away to Liverpool, the place even the Anfield crowd stood up and applauded that efficiency.
“It was genuinely a particular night time, above all as a result of the Reds followers applauded us on the finish of the sport. That simply wouldn’t occur in Italy and I’d love for that to alter.”
That helped earn Gasperini a nomination for 2024 Supervisor of the Yr.
