Atalanta will play Bayer Leverkusen tonight at 9 PM CET at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo in the Round of 16 of Europa League. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini spoke about the clash and his players in his most recent press conference.
On the situation of the team: “It is not a very lucky period for us, even if we played some very good games. However, we are still in a good position and we will overcome this bad moment with better results.”
About his opponent and the Europa League: “They are the worst we could meet. A strong team, indeed they are third in the Bundesliga. I watched their last game against Bayern München, they are young, some of them are really talented and fast. It will be difficult to qualify, we will have to do well to be able to get through the round since the team we will face it is a very valuable one. The Europa League becomes very prestigious as it goes on. The value of teams rises considerably. This round is already very difficult but we will try do our best. For us it is a target to meet this kind of teams in order to improve ourselves so that we can play better even in the championship as well.”
The coach also talked about Luis Muriel and his difficult moment on the pitch: “Not all seasons are the same, he certainly had some difficulty in finding his best condition due to some injuries that affected him, but there is still time. There are three months of Championship to play, sometimes the strikers do better in the final phase which is the most decisive one”.