Atalanta coach Stefano Colantuono says that Saturday’s opponents Roma have defensive worries but are a quality side who will fight right until the end of the season to win the Serie A title.
La Dea face the Giallorossi on Saturday evening at the Stadio Azzurri d’Italia and Colantuono insists that despite the absence of the likes of Leandro Castan and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Roma will be a difficult test for his side.
“They have some problems, especially in the back four, but I prefer to focus on my team without looking at the problems that others have,” the 52-year-old told his pre-match press conference.
“[Francesco] Totti can make the difference even at 38, we have to be careful because Roma have enormous quality and the Scudetto will go right until the end.”
Atalanta currently sit 17th in Serie A and have drawn their last three matches, with the previous two both ending 0-0 at Torino and Sassuolo, and the coach has various injury problems ahead of Saturday’s game.
“[Giulio] Migliaccio has failed to recover so will not play in the game. We need to check [Daniele] Baselli in the next few hours, he came back from the Under 21s with a thigh problem and hasn’t yet recovered.”
The former Torino coach though did not rule out starts for young midfielder Alberto Grassi and forward Alejandro Dario Gomez, who has struggled with injury since joining from Metalist Kharkiv at the end of the last transfer window.
“[Grassi] has quality and has been with us right from the beginning of the season, he is ready if needed and for me it would not be a risk to play him.
“I don’t know how many minutes [Gomez] has in his legs but he is finally right and can play.
“He’s an important player for us, he gives us more unpredictability in the final third and this can be good for [German] Denis.”
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