Atalanta, Raffaele Palladino amid regrets and controversy

It was a decidedly unfortunate evening that experienced by Atalanta in the foggy Bentegodi stadium in Verona: the Nerazzurri lost 3-1, taking a step backwards also in terms of play compared to the brilliant performances against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League, Fiorentina in the league and Genoa in the Coppa Italia. Speaking at the microphones of Sky Sport, the coach of the Orobici, Raffaele Palladino, admitted his disappointment with the performance of his team but also had occasion to challenge the refereeing and in particular the decision not to punish with a penalty a touch with the arm of Bella-Kotchap at 2-0.

“The touch of hands was obvious, so is the’error of the referee and Var– said Palladino, visibly bitter -. The moviola on the field should make these decisions easier, instead it seems to me that we are complicating life. The touch is obvious, maybe the ball didn&#8217t change direction but it was there. The game, at that moment, could have changed”. In any case, the Nerazzurri coach was even more bitter about his team&#8220s performance on the field: “We were bad, too bad, especially in the first half. We knew that Verona would raise the intensity right from the start, but we just did not understand the game”.

“I take responsibility for the performance – said Palladino again -We were dull, is the right word. I apologize to the fans, we must all be aware that such a night must not happen again. What happened compared to the last games? I don’t know, after Naples the reaction had been very good. We prepared the game as always and I had no signs that could make me think of a test like today’s. Probably this defeat will serve us as a lesson, but you have to interpret the signals and I myself have to give them to the whole team. From blows like this one can find the stimulus to do better”.

Francesco Lucivero

Atalanta will return to the field on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 9 p.m., against Chelsea in the Champions League in front of their home crowd. It will then play again in Bergamo on Saturday 13 in the league, against Cagliari. The year 2025 will then end with the Dec. 21 match at home to Genoa and the Dec. 28 match at the New Balance Arena against Inter.