Gian Piero Gasperini, the head coach of Atalanta, has claimed that Inter Milan’s first goal in their 2-0 victory against Atalanta in the Coppa Italia semi-final should have been disallowed. Gasperini stated that the referee and the VAR officials missed a clear mistake during the play.
The match ended 2-0 in favor of Inter, giving them a strong advantage as they aim for their first trophy of the new year. In his pre-match press conference, Gasperini acknowledged the challenges Atalanta faced: “We don’t have enough players to field a second-string team in such matches. However, it was a good time to give some of the less-played players a chance to perform.”
Despite the loss, Gasperini was somewhat pleased with his team’s performance. He said, “Apart from the result, the performance of my players was satisfactory. In the first half, we sat deep, but in the second half, we created several good goal-scoring opportunities, and it can be said that we were a bit unlucky not to score.”
When asked about motivation, he denied that the team lacked drive: “No, not at all. We tried to win and played very well. Despite some defensive mistakes, we could have scored in the second half, but we were inaccurate.” He also pointed out that key players like Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere can’t play every match, and that he wanted to test the readiness of other squad members, receiving positive feedback from them.
Regarding the controversial first goal by Inter, Gasperini expressed his frustration: “The game changed with that strange goal. There was an unusual corner kick with Stefan de Vrij standing in front of our goalkeeper and a clear foul by Dumfries on Scalini. Neither of these situations were noticed by the VAR, but they took about seven minutes to review our goal, which was then disallowed.”
