Gian Piero Gasperini has defended his decision to bench star players, including Ademola Lookman, in Atalanta’s 2-0 Supercoppa Italiana semi-final loss to Inter, arguing it was an opportunity to test less-utilised players.
The match, held in Riyadh, saw Atalanta field a surprising lineup, with Lookman, Charles De Ketelaere, and Ederson starting on the bench. Gasperini instead opted for Nicolò Zaniolo, Lazar Samardzic, and Giorgio Scalvini in a move that raised eyebrows.
“I was not experimenting at all. We have many players, we had a long and tough run of games, the Supercoppa came at the right time for us to verify players who contributed but played relatively little compared to others,” Gasperini told Sport Mediaset.
Lookman entered the game in the 56th minute, shortly after Denzel Dumfries had opened the scoring with an acrobatic strike from a contested corner. Dumfries added a second with a powerful shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar, leaving Atalanta chasing the game.
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Despite the defeat, Gasperini emphasized the value of the experience for his squad. “There were moments in the first half where we gave the ball away too cheaply, but we created many more scoring opportunities after the restart,” he said.
“There were some incidents we were not fortunate with, for example the corner was not a corner on the opening goal, there was a foul on Scalvini, and probably De Vrij was offside.
“It became more difficult once we were behind, but it was a very useful experience.”
Atalanta thought they had reduced the deficit when Ederson found the net, but the goal was disallowed after a lengthy VAR review for an offside position by De Ketelaere.
Critics accused Gasperini of treating the Supercoppa Italiana as an afterthought, a claim the coach vehemently denied.
“We did not snub anything; we tried to win the game against a very strong opponent,” he insisted. “In order to win this type of match, we need to make fewer mistakes at both ends.”
The coach also defended his decision to rest key players, citing the need for squad rotation amid a demanding season. “We cannot have De Ketelaere and Lookman play 90 minutes for 56 games. I played Brescianini, Samardzic, Zaniolo—these are not exactly unknowns.”
Gasperini pointed to positives from the game, including Scalvini’s return from injury and his successful deployment in midfield.
“All players have quality, I try to bring more out of them, and the best way to give them confidence is to let them play in games like this,” he said. “Inter are one of the best sides in Europe, so doing well against them and getting the sense we could’ve done better is reassuring going forward.”
With Atalanta now eliminated from the Supercoppa, they will shift their focus back to Serie A, where they currently lead the table with 41 points, level on points with Napoli in second and one point ahead of Inter in third.
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