Roma, Gasperini leaves in tears and kicks a goal
Surprising ending of Gian Piero Gasperini’s press conference ahead of Roma-Atalanta: while he was talking about Antonio Percassi, the Giallorossi coach suddenly stopped, visibly emotional, losing his voice and leaving the room in tears and then kicking a door.
“What had I found in Bergamo at the beginning of my term and what is there today in Rome – his last words -? In Rome there is everything to do well. In Bergamo I was able to do well because the context around me was compact, the work of the company was extraordinary. The small city also created an ideal climate. We had worked and built together. There were young people and more, a strong core group. Think about the disposals made, how it was reinvested. The anomaly of Atalanta was playing in Europe making profits. Not only because of me but above all because of a club that was very capable of operating in tune with the coach. Then it changed a little bit, a little bit because the ownership changed, a little bit because there was no longer the father to whom I was very close….”
“There was this interview last Friday that created this whole situation during the week,” he had begun. “For me it was really an incredible surprise, because there was never, I say never, a different tone between me and Ranieri, either in the conferences we used to have maybe with other people, or in the relationship between us. So that was really unexpected. And I say that in so many months I had never had this feeling, these tones from him. From that moment on I was only concerned, first not to respond, second to try to, even if unintentionally I’m involved, not to create any kind of damage, any kind of difficulty to the team, mainly, and also in respect of the public.”
And again… “There were 60,000 people, there will be maybe 30,000, maybe even more tomorrow, who come to the stadium to see the game, an important game, a level game, where we still have chances to be able to play. And I think that’s the important thing. And so I would really like us to talk about this, also because I did not intervene during the whole week, it did not come from everybody, I would have liked to try to prevent this, but it was impossible on my part.”
“From today I would really like us to talk about soccer, about respect for a game that on the 33rd day, a game after so many days, after a championship, a path that we have played together, that we can, and I believe, and I hope that it will be a beautiful game,” he had also stressed.
