La Dea cruised to a 2-0 win in their opening UEFA Europa League Group D encounter over Raków Częstochowa at the Gewiss Stadium, extending their impressive record at home to seven wins from their last eight matches across all competitions. Charles De Ketelaere, who broke the deadlock with a second-half header, proved to be instrumental as he made it two goals in five appearances for Atalanta so far.
Gian Piero Gasperini praised De Ketelaere for his impressive display, and the striker himself expressed confidence in his displays in his post-match interview to Sky Italia.
“I’m happy, because the team played well throughout, it is an important goal and I’m pleased. We could’ve scored more, I could’ve scored more, as it was cleared off the line twice. I feel good, we created many scoring opportunities and it could’ve been more than 2-0, but these are three important points to start the Europa League.”
Having been shunned at Milan, De Ketelaere is gradually back into the fray with his versatility, which Gasperini stressed is an important factor.
“I want to keep doing more. I started out playing on the right, then moved to centre-forward in the second half. I can play on the right, left or central.”
Atalanta are off to a positive start in Europe, with games against Sporting CP and Sturm Graz next. However, they sit in 10th in Serie A after two wins and defeats from their opening four games.
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