“The initial choices to try to surprise Inter? No no, I didn’t try anything at all.” These are the first words released by Gian Piero Gasperini a SportMediaset after the Italian Super Cup semi-final between Inter and Atalanta: “We had many challenging matches, we came here for the Super Cup and it was the right time to check out many players who had played little and had had few chances. We were playing against Inter in semi-final and it was the right time”, explains the coach of Dea.
What answers did you get?
“Good, even if we had difficulties in the clearances and lost heavy balls, building little. In the second we created several situations, then there were unlucky episodes. The first goal doesn’t exist: the corner kick that doesn’t exist , there is a position by De Vrij in front of the goalkeeper and a clear foul on Scalvini who fails to jump. Too many episodes in the same action, but having said that, when you go down it becomes more difficult for us.
More than an excellent experience, it was excellent training, it seems you snubbed the Super Cup.
“No, it was a tight match. We didn’t snub anything, we tried to win and we faced a very strong team. We should have made fewer mistakes, like in the second goal. We created scoring opportunities, some sensational ones like Scalvini’s, then the mistakes favored a strong team like Inter. They can’t play 56 games for 90 minutes… it’s not like I brought in Primavera players: I brought in first team players who have rarely played from the start like they did. Brescianini, Samardzic and Zaniolo. I hoped to stay in the game and play with the substitutions, this was the strategy but the boys didn’t give up on me. I also wanted to try Scalvini again in midfield, it’s a department where we are fewer and for me it was good test. He hadn’t played in months, it was fundamental for me.”
What is the secret to getting 100% out of every player?
“The boys must have value, I try to bring out the best and give them confidence by also playing matches like these. Inter is one of the best in Europe: playing like this and seeing that you can do something more and that you have done some well things definitely gives you confidence.”
