The coach of the Italian Serie A side, Atalanta Giani Gasperini, has responded to the claims that he played an under-strength team in their semi-final defeat.
The La Dea suffered a 0-2 defeat to Inter Milan in the Supercopa semi-final against the San Siro giant on Thursday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Gasperini was quizzed on the reason he left the Super Eagles winger Ademola Lookman and some other key players on the bench in the encounter.
“We did not snub anything, we tried to win the game against a very strong opponent. To win this type of match, we need to make fewer mistakes at both ends”.
” It was an important opportunity; we cannot have De Ketelaere and Lookman play 90 minutes for 56 games. I played Brescianini, Samardzic, Zaniolo; these are not exactly unknowns”.
“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 insisted.
