Simone Inzaghi hit back at Atalanta Coach Gian Piero Gasperini after a 3-3 thriller. “I don’t accept his comments, because both Lazio penalties were clear.”
The Aquile were steamrollered in the first half and lucky to only be 3-0 down, but fought back after the break for a 3-3 draw, including two Ciro Immobile spot-kicks.
Simone Inzaghi hit back at Atalanta Coach Gian Piero Gasperini after a 3-3 thriller. “I don’t accept his comments, because both Lazio penalties were clear.”
The Aquile were steamrollered in the first half and lucky to only be 3-0 down, but fought back after the break for a 3-3 draw, including two Ciro Immobile spot-kicks.
“It was a very clear match. Atalanta dominated the first half, while we dominated the second with three extraordinary scoring opportunities on top of the goals. Thomas Strakosha only made one save after the break,” insisted Inzaghi in his Press conference.
Gasperini was furious in his post-match interview, claiming Immobile had ‘dived’ for both penalties.
“I admire him as a colleague. I listen to his words, but I do not accept them, because the two penalties are clear. We lost the Champions League place twice due to refereeing incidents, so in this sport you have to accept situations and especially today, when they were very clear.
“I am disappointed he decided to say these things about Immobile, as there was clear contact.”
It was very much a game of two halves, as Lazio were simply non-existent in the opening 45 minutes.
“Atalanta had a better approach than we did. We have to take some of the blame, but must also give credit to the opposition. It’s disappointing, because we’ve had the wrong approach very few times over these four years.
“A draw makes little difference to our position in the table, but the comeback has to act like a springboard to launch us for the rest of the season. We reacted like a real team.”
Immobile said that Inzaghi did well at half-time not to raise his voice too much, as they already realised what was going wrong.
“I told the players that we were doing the complete opposite to what we were meant to do. I was disappointed. You can win or lose games, but always with a certain attitude.
“If I’d had the chance, I would’ve replaced all 11 of them. I took off Adam Marusic and Marco Parolo because I wanted to be more aggressive and that is what we did.”
Marusic wasn’t meant to start, but stepped in after Manuel Lazzari pulled out in the warm-up.
“Lazzari had a stomach bug this morning and it seemed to be over, but in the warm-up he felt a bit dizzy.”