Atalanta head coach Raffaele Palladino admitted his side fell short of expectations after their 1-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise ended their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Champions League league phase, insisting his players must now learn from the setback as they prepare for the play offs.
Atalanta went into the final round as the best placed Italian team, but their hopes of automatic qualification had already been dented by last week’s 3-2 home defeat to Athletic Club. In Belgium, they again failed to deliver, producing a subdued display that allowed Union Saint-Gilloise to secure victory with a single second half goal. The decisive moment came when a free kick was floated to the back post and Anan Khalaili volleyed past the goalkeeper to give the hosts the lead.
Speaking after the match, Palladino admitted disappointment with his team’s technical level and overall approach. “I am not worried, but I am disappointed, because we wanted to have a sense of consistency after the victory in Serie A at the weekend and to put in a strong performance,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “It was perhaps our worst performance on a purely technical level, we made banal mistakes and misplaced really easy passes, the kind of things we never do. The state of the pitch could only be so much of an excuse, there were some really silly mistakes.”
He also pointed to Atalanta’s inability to adapt to difficult game situations, which he believes cost them control of the contest. “When that happens, you create a sense of enthusiasm in your opponents too, you build their belief. The thing that most disappoints me is that we seem unable to understand that when the game gets messy, we have to get messy too and fight it out for every ball. They force you to play badly, so you have to recognise it’s that kind of game. We still haven’t been able to figure out how to deal with those situations, it felt like a repeat of the Serie A matches against Verona and Pisa.”
The result means Atalanta finish 15th in the Champions League standings and will now compete in the knockout play offs. They are set to face either Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos next, with a potential Round of 16 tie against Arsenal or Bayern Munich awaiting the winner.
Palladino insisted there were lessons to be taken from the defeat, even though the top eight was already out of reach before kick off. “Even if we had won tonight, we wouldn’t have gone into the top eight, but it’s still something we can learn from,” he said.
In a separate interview with UEFA, the Atalanta coach reinforced his message of accountability and improvement. “It was not the performance I hoped to see from my team. We can, and must, do better. It is unfortunate that we let the top eight slip from our fingers, but we will just have to prove ourselves in the play-offs.”
