Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini wants to force Neymar to defend when La Dea face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. ‘We won’t sit back’.

The Orobici have secured a place in next season's Champions League and are currently preparing for the quarter-finals of the competition after having sent Valencia out in the last 16.

French giants PSG await in tonight’s round on neutral turf in Lisbon and Gasperini wants to make the Brazilian superstar Neymar think about ‘defending’.

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini wants to force Neymar to defend when La Dea face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. ‘We won’t sit back’.

The Orobici have secured a place in next season's Champions League and are currently preparing for the quarter-finals of the competition after having sent Valencia out in the last 16.

French giants PSG await in tonight’s round on neutral turf in Lisbon and Gasperini wants to make the Brazilian superstar Neymar think about ‘defending’.

“We will not sit back, even in Lisbon,” Gasperini told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “It doesn’t mean bragging rights in front of Neymar, but the real challenge is exactly this.

“Even more than for the result, we must play without changing ourselves. We must be Atalanta.”

The 62-year-old said the Brazil international is ‘one of the best in the world’ and expects to see World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe return from injury for Thomas Tuchel’s side.

“Neymar is one of the best in the world, but if we attack him, it will be up to him to defend himself. Mbappe? I expect him to be there.”

Gasperini has been through ups and downs in his career but claims he has been helped by his previous experiences, and said he learned from his short spell as Inter coach in 2011.

“Every experience has helped me, even the worst ones,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I don’t hold grudges for the period at Inter.

“I don’t consider it a failure, but a passage of formation. In the Champions League, against Trabzonspor, for the first and only time, I shunned my ideas, and played defence of four.

“It was a precious defeat. It served to give me even more strength towards my convictions.”

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