“No one is unbeatable.” This is how Martin de Roon, the injured captain of Atalanta Bergamo, motivated his partners on Tuesday, on the eve of the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, still undefeated this season after 51 matches played.
“For the moment, Leverkusen seems unbeatable, but perhaps we will make sure that that changes” said the Dutch midfielder, injured last week against Juve and forfeited Wednesday for the Europa League final. “We have to believe in ourselves, in our philosophy, play attacking football. You don’t win a trophy by not beating the best,” continued the Dutch midfielder, who nevertheless accompanied his partners to Dublin, venue of the C3 final.
In his absence, it is the Albanian defender Berat Djimsiti, another member of the team who should wear the captain’s armband of the “Dea”. Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini also wanted to be confident on the eve of facing Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. “We are aware that we are facing a great team. We know they are undefeated and have had an incredible season. But our journey has also been very good: we beat very good teams to reach the final and we have faith in ourselves,” he explained.
Although he will not be able to count on his Dutch captain, Gasperini confirmed the presence of his leading striker, Gianluca Scamacca, six goals scored in the Europa League this season (including one in Marseille in the semi-final first leg, 1-1), absent from the Italian Cup final last week.
“Scamacca has improved considerably in recent months, not only in terms of goals but also in terms of performances. We missed him in the cup final against Juventus and I am happy that all our attackers will be available tomorrow (Wednesday)” concluded Gasperini, who has coached Bergamo for eight seasons and managed, last weekend, to qualify his team for the next Champions League, for the third time in its history.