Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini has hailed his side’s 2-0 home win over Cagliari as the ‘the best performance of the season so far.’ Fresh off a 2-0 Europa League win over Polish title holders Rakow on Thursday, La Dea replicated the same scoreline to take down the Serie A returnees at the Gewiss Stadium.
Goals from Ademola Lookman and Mario Pasalic on either side of halftime condemned Cagliari to a five-game winless league start. But more importantly for Gasperini, it marked his side’s third win in five Sere A matches this season. Atalanta looked like their former selves for the first time in a while.
Considering the high amount of scoring chances they had in the first half, it was unfathomable how they were only 1-0 up at halftime. Despite wasting numerous openings, Atalanta achieved the ultimate goal. They bounced back from a 3-2 defeat against Fiorentina last time out. However, there’s no time for celebration as they head to Hellas Verona on Tuesday.
Atalanta ought to take that trip in a buoyant mood. Gasperini praised his players after putting Cagliari to the sword, with La Dea seemingly building a head of steam following a mixed start to the new campaign.
“We did very well in the first half, probably our best performance of the season so far, perhaps also because of the enthusiasm from Thursday’s game,” the Atalanta boss told DAZN, as quoted by Gianluca Di Marzio.
“Today, we got nothing wrong, we kept the right concentration and the defence is working well. The moments in Florence and Frosinone were the exception, not the rule.“