Gian Piero Gasperini wants Atalanta to celebrate their first ever Champions League win, having beaten Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 at the Stadio San Siro on Tuesday evening.
Despite losing their first three games in the competition, Atalanta can still reach the last 16 with a win at Shakhtar Donetsk in their final game, while they’ll also need Manchester City to do them a favour against Dinamo.
“It’s our first victory so it has to be celebrated,” Gasperini said at his post-match press conference.
“We went close with Shakhtar but lost in the 95th minute, then we went very close with City. Tonight, finally, it arrived.”
Luis Muriel converted a penalty for Atalanta to open the scoring, ending their horrid recent run from the spot.
“Penalties are a nightmare,” he added. “We’ve made too many mistakes; against Shakhtar, against Juventus.
“But we’ve found a taker and if Muriel plays then he takes them.”
Alejandro Papu Gomez was in inspired form again for Atalanta, scoring the second after creating a hatful of chances for his side.
“Papu…” Gasperini beamed, “it’s hard to rank his best games.
“We’ve seen him play at this level so many times, but tonight it was amplified even more.
“Now everyone in the Champions League has seen him.”
