Football

Gasperini on UEFA Super Cup defeat: «I feel sorry for my players, but they deserve praise»

Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini praised his players for their performance against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup. 

Recently, the Bergamaschi were narrowly defeated by the «Los Blancos» with a score of 2-0. 

«Real Madrid deserved to win. They managed to open up the game, and then they created chances to score more goals. Finals are like this; if we had managed to take the lead, we would have had many more chances. We were missing several players, but whoever played this evening did well – everyone should be praised.

I think we had good opportunities to go ahead in this match. We always create chances — like we did in Dublin [in the Europa League final] – but then, we tucked them away. I thought we probably could have done that here too! I'm sad for my guys because this was truly a special opportunity.» Gasperini stated, according to UEFA's press service. 

Real Madrid won the UEFA Super Cup for a record sixth time, surpassing Barcelona and AC Milan, who have both lifted the trophy five times.