Atalanta lost to Villarreal in the group stage football match of the Champions League, which means they had to walk out of the competition with a heavy heart. Atalanta faced a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal on Thursday night. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini admits Atalanta ‘leave the Champions League with a lot of regrets’ after they lose to yellow submarines and a whole group of wasted opportunities.
To finish second in the group behind Manchester United La Dea need a win at home. A fine comeback from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Duvan Zapata proved in vain. Gasperini told Amazon Prime Italia on Champions League exit: “We usually manage to give our best in games like this, but instead we had just a horrible start and it becomes difficult when you go behind at this level.”
“We got the sensation as time wore on that we could get back into it, but it was too late. When Muriel hit the post, if that had gone in for 3-3, it would’ve given us a chance to throw everything at them. There are even more regrets because we went out in a game that we were more than capable of winning,” he added.
“The players have put in so many good performances this season, an off day can happen. With Villarreal taking such an early lead, they could sit back even deeper and we struggled to break them down. The whole first half was not good, we misplaced passes and lacked our usual quality. We leave the Champions League with a lot of regrets.”
