The loss of the Papu has not been noticed. The strong discussion between Gasperini and the Argentine footballer, who would end up causing the player to leave, occurred at the break of the game against him Midtjylland on the fifth day of the group stage. It was December 1st. Since then, adding all the matches played in all competitions, the Atalanta has only lost one of 19 (in two of them, in a failed attempt to remedy the situation, the Papuan He participated, although his relationship with the coach was already broken and the fire threatened to affect all the plots of the club). The person in charge of replacing the new talent of Seville in the middle point has been the young man Matteo pessina, who last season played on loan in the Hellas verona. He does not have the same technical quality, but his aggressiveness in the pressure has reactivated that facet so important in Gasperini’s team, who seeks to steal very high to attack later in a whirlwind with many troops. In addition to his physical virtues, Pessina has a fantastic second-line arrival that allowed him to score seven goals during his loan for the team. Veneto.
The importance of the rails. In Gasperini’s 3-4-1-2 scheme, a very characteristic feature is the extremely high position of the two wing players, who very often join the attack at the same time. It is not uncommon to see plays in which one of the two centers from one side and the other comes to the auction from the other. Robin gosens, the German footballer who plays on the left, has scored seven goals and four assists in the present A series. On the right the usual is Dutch Hateboer, but now he is injured and the Danish will replace him Joakim Maehle, to which Atalanta signed in the last winter market for about ten million euros, from the Genk Belgian.
Muriel, during a training session with Atalanta.
DANIELE MASCOLO (REUTERS)
Muriel’s big moment. The Colombian, former Seville, is having an outstanding season. In principle he started as a substitute for his compatriot Duvan Zapata, but he has five more goals than him in Serie A (fourteen against nine). In the last win against him Naples last Sunday (4-2), he scored an impressive goal with his left foot and participated in the plays of the other three. This has made that lately he alternates in the ownership with the Slovenian Ilicic, the highly talented left-hander who makes a difference between lines and who has already returned to the activity after having a hard personal moment after the stoppage due to the coronavirus. Zapata, due to his physical presence, is fixed. Muriel and Ilicic compete for the other place ahead of Pessina.
With Romero they have improved back. If the Bergamo team has a weak point, this is undoubtedly the defensive aspect. He plays so exposed that it is common to hunt him down with very few troops in the rear. The individual level of their centrals is not as high as that of the attacking players. This trend has softened with the incorporation last summer of the young Argentine Cristian Romero, a 22-year-old defender for whom Juventus paid 26 million euros and is on loan from the Turin entity.
