Palladino: ‘Atalanta made silly mistakes, but top 8 only a dream’
Raffaele Palladino insists he is not too worried after Atalanta’s 1-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise, as a top eight Champions League spot ‘was only ever a dream.’
La Dea had been the best-placed Italian team going into the final round of the league phase, although they could’ve already been in the top eight if not for falling asleep in last week’s 3-2 defeat to Athletic Club.
They were disappointing again in Belgium this evening, losing 1-0 to Union Saint-Gilloise, who scored when a free kick was floated to the back post for the Anan Khalaili volley.
Palladino not upset by Atalanta stumble
“I am not worried, but I am disappointed, because we wanted to have a sense of consistency after the victory in Serie A at the weekend and to put in a strong performance,” Palladino told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was perhaps our worst performance on a purely technical level, we made banal mistakes and misplaced really easy passes, the kind of things we never do. The state of the pitch could only be so much of an excuse, there were some really silly mistakes.
“When that happens, you create a sense of enthusiasm in your opponents too, you build their belief. The thing that most disappoints me is that we seem unable to understand that when the game gets messy, we have to get messy too and fight it out for every ball. They force you to play badly, so you have to recognise it’s that kind of game.
“We still haven’t been able to figure out how to deal with those situations, it felt like a repeat of the Serie A matches against Verona and Pisa.”
This defeat means Atalanta finish 15th in the Champions League table and are still seeded in the play-offs.
They are set to face either Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos in the next phase, then potentially Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the Round of 16.
“Even if we had won tonight, we wouldn’t have gone into the top eight, but it’s still something we can learn from,” continued Palladino.
“Against Athletic Bilbao, we were perfect for 60 minutes, then had a blackout for 15 minutes that cost us the game. Our objective going into this tournament was to qualify for the play-offs, not the top eight. If I look at the final table, Real Madrid, Inter and Paris Saint-Germain went into the play-offs, Napoli were eliminated entirely.
“We are a small club and we want to keep growing, but the top eight was only ever a dream. I think we’re working well, we mustn’t make a drama out of this, I learned a lot today about the mentality of the squad and know what I need to work on.”