Football: Gasperini gets emotional as he recalls his time at Atalanta

Rome, 17 April (LaPresse) – “Is there anything I’d borrow from Atalanta? We have everything here in Rome. Above all, within the team and also in the wider environment, we really have everything we need to do well, perhaps with a slightly different approach. In Bergamo, I was able to perform well because the environment around me was very close-knit. The club’s work has been extraordinary, of course, and the supporters – being a single team in a small, close-knit city, united with the team and the club – have created an ideal atmosphere.” So said Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini at a press conference on the eve of the match against Atalanta, his former team. “There has been the ability to build a strong team over time, for many years, a first team that wasn’t just made up of young players and lads who were developed and sold, thanks to the club, for huge sums that have made this club extremely wealthy. Just think of this year alone: the sales of Lookman, Retegui and Ruggeri – what they brought in on top of the Champions League revenue. It has become an extremely wealthy club. The anomaly with Atalanta was that for nine years it played in Europe against the best Italian and European teams, making a profit. That was the real anomaly. Making a profit every year – and that was the extraordinary thing – but not just down to Gasperini; clearly, a great deal of credit goes to a club that was highly capable of working in harmony with the manager. Then the ownership changed, perhaps partly because the man I was closest to was no longer there,” concluded Gasperini, leaving the press conference visibly moved.