Palladino: ‘Best Atalanta performance’ despite ‘chaotic’ 1-0 loss to Juventus
Raffaele Palladino insists Atalanta put in ‘one of the best performances’ of the season against Juventus, but lost 1-0 due to ‘a chaotic goal’ and a rejected penalty appeal.
La Dea had climbed up the standings to make an unexpected late push for Champions League places, but their chances of securing the top four are now much lower after this home defeat.
They had dominated the first half without making it count, and were made to pay for some defensive errors when Jeremie Boga was ready to fire in the loose ball.
That proved to be the only goal in Bergamo, opening up a significant gap from seventh to sixth of four points.
Palladino saw strong Atalanta against Juve
“Unfortunately, this is football, it has to be accepted when the pitch gives its verdict,” Palladino told Sky Sport Italia.
“It came at the end of a great performance in so many ways. I want to say that I am proud of my lads, because in my view this was one of the best performances since I’ve been the coach of Atalanta.
“I complimented them at the end, because even though the result was not what we wanted, these things do happen. These games are rare in the course of a campaign, but they do happen, where you are dominating the game, have 20 shots on goal and never allow Juventus a sniff when they have such talented individuals, then concede a chaotic goal.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to turn it around. I usually analyse and discuss the game with them, but tonight I just said well done for this performance. Now we press the reset button and prepare for the match with Roma.”
What changed when Juventus came out for the restart and had a different attitude?
“I don’t think Juve changed anything for the second half, it was just a messy incident with some ricochets that fell kindly for them on the goal,” insisted the Atalanta coach.
“What we could’ve done better is in the final 20 minutes, when we poured forward, we were a bit too disorganised and hasty. Juve were sitting very deep, so we could’ve surrounded them a bit more.
“These are minor details, I have few complaints about my team otherwise.”
There were protests in the final minutes when Davide Zappacosta’s cross-shot struck Federico Gatti on the arm, but the defender was judged to have it in a natural position, trying to pull it behind his back at the last moment.
“I don’t talk about referees and I mean it. I am consistent with what I say. The referee made this decision, in many situations we’ve seen these penalties given, in others they weren’t, I thought the referee did very well overall,” assured Palladino.
It is not the first time that Atalanta have failed to make their domination count and been penalised by more clinical opponents, especially in the big games.
They crushed Juve here 3-0 back in February for the Coppa Italia quarter-final, although some of that had also been against the run of play.
“We were undefeated at home in Serie A for many months and wanted to keep that run going, but unfortunately we have to accept this defeat. We will continue to not give up, we’ll try to stay in the hunt, because we need to end this season well with some head-to-head clashes, and also the Coppa Italia semi-final with Lazio.”
The first leg of that semi-final ended 2-2 at the Stadio Olimpico, so the return will be in Bergamo later this month.