Palladino: ‘Historic Atalanta comeback an unforgettable night’
Raffaele Palladino admits Atalanta’s comeback from 2-0 down to eliminate Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on aggregate ‘will go down in history’ of the Champions League. ‘This is our DNA.’
La Dea had a mountain to climb after losing the first leg of this play-off 2-0 in Dortmund, but managed to turn it around to lead 3-0 on the night with Gianluca Scamacca, Davide Zappacosta and Mario Pasalic.
Karim Adeyemi made it 3-3 on aggregate and extra time seemed inevitable until the last-gasp Lazar Samardzic penalty.
Palladino proud of historic Atalanta comeback
“This is a match that will go down in history, not just here in Bergamo for all the Atalanta fans, but for Italian football as a whole,” Palladino told Sky Sport Italia.
“We achieved a comeback that will stay in the history books. We’re so happy, I want to thank every single player, those who were on the field, on the bench, in the stands, my staff, the President Antonio Percassi, the directors, and all the fans.
“There were 23,000 people pushing us from start to finish this evening, they created a unique atmosphere in our stadium.
“It was probably the best game I ever experienced in my coaching career, and it will remain in my mind forever. This club deserves this incredible satisfaction.”
Atalanta become the third Italian club to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg, after Juventus and Roma.
“We knew it was truly difficult this evening, but not impossible, because the first leg performance saw us go behind in the opening minutes and it was an uphill struggle from there,” continued Palladino.
“We studied our opponents carefully, and knew that we could have our say. It was tough, but after the comeback win against Napoli last week, it gave us more belief.
“I could see that positive energy in the eyes of my players, and the spirit was fantastic.”
Krstovic came off the bench and was left with a bloodied head by that Ramy Bensebaini foul for the decisive penalty.
“Krstovic is a great example, as he fought for that ball, showed so much courage to go for that cross and realise he could win it. That is the Atalanta DNA.”
Considering the vast difference between the first and second leg, what did Palladino change in his Atalanta side?
“We made too many mistakes and were too timid, but we studied carefully, knew what the objective was, and that we needed to do a lot of cross-field passes to stretch them out of shape.
“I also want to underline the importance of the strikers, Scamacca in the first half and then Krstovic, in pressing the goalkeeper, who is a real sweeper-keeper for Dortmund.”
With Inter’s elimination last night to Bodo/Glimt and Juventus facing an even tougher task with Galatasaray, there was the genuine fear Italy would have no representatives in the Champions League Round of 16.
“I heard a lot of comments about Italian football and I think it ought to be protected, above all from the inside,” noted Palladino.
“We are too harsh when things don’t go well, we need more constructive criticism, to be a bit more positive, and we proved that this evening.
“It’s likely nobody believed in us tonight, which is why I told the lads we needed to make them all eat their words about us.”
The dramatic evening had seemed as if it was heading to extra time after Karim Adeyemi got it back to 3-3 on aggregate, so how did Atalanta deal with that situation?
“I couldn’t do anything from the bench, it was all in the mentality of the lads, their maturity and self-confidence,” noted Palladino.
“If we’d played this game six weeks ago, we probably would’ve lost. Now we have matured, realised when to defend, when to attack, how to read situations better. I don’t like to defend deep, I want to press, and this team is well suited to that too, so we are in sync.
“In those final minutes, the players did it all, with heart, quality, intelligence and smarts. They did something unforgettable.”