Gian Piero Gasperini is confident Olympique Lyonnais “will know who Atalanta are soon enough” ahead of their Europa League clash.
It kicks off on Thursday at 20.05 UK time (19.05 GMT) and the Orobici are top of their group following a 3-0 win over Everton and Lyon’s surprise draw with Apollon Limassol.
Despite that, Lyon star Nabil Fekir confessed today that he had never heard of Atalanta star Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez.
Gian Piero Gasperini is confident Olympique Lyonnais “will know who Atalanta are soon enough” ahead of their Europa League clash.
It kicks off on Thursday at 20.05 UK time (19.05 GMT) and the Orobici are top of their group following a 3-0 win over Everton and Lyon’s surprise draw with Apollon Limassol.
Despite that, Lyon star Nabil Fekir confessed today that he had never heard of Atalanta star Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez.
“We are living this experience with enthusiasm, but that doesn’t mean we’re just here to take part,” smiled the Coach in his Press conference.
“We will try, as we did in the first game, to approach it with curiosity and respect, a novelty for Atalanta after many years, but we have the ambition to achieve our objective.
“Lyon are among the best sides in Europe, so when you take on this level, you cannot make mistakes. They have players with physical strength, technique and goals, but they allow something at the back too.
“Lyon are good, but we’ve faced Napoli and Roma this season, we’re taking on Juventus next… it’ll be as if we were playing one of them.
“The results speak for Lyon and we knew from the moment of the draw that we were in a tough group, but having said all that, we’ve still got this opportunity.
“Getting a result in Lyon would mean giving ourselves a concrete chance of doing something truly incredible, which is qualifying for the next round.
“It’s fair if they’ve not heard of us, as we haven’t been in European competition for 26 years. As for not knowing Gomez… he is an Argentina international and I hope he can make his name a little more famous.
“We certainly weren’t offended by that. We just hope Lyon will know who Atalanta are soon enough…”
Gasperini was asked about his starting XI and fitness concerns around creative midfielder Josip Ilicic.
“The only absentee is Rafael Toloi, while we have to see how Ilicic is doing, but the basic system doesn’t change.”