Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini believes Arsenal were looking for a draw in Thursday night’s Champions League clash. The Gunners played a 0-0 draw away from home.
The game could have easily gone a different way if David Raya had not saved a penalty from Mateo Retegui in the 51st minute. After the game, when asked about the penalty save, the Spaniard said there was a bit of luck involved.
Atalanta put the pressure on Arsenal in the second half and had six shots while the Gunners only managed one. At the end of the day, leaving with one point was an acceptable result according to Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard was happy that Arsenal did not lost a ‘tricky’ away tie in Europe, after pointing out the Gunners’ record away from home last season.
Gian Piero Gasperini calls out Arsenal for settling for draw
Gasperini was vocal about the result, saying Arsenal ‘didn’t do much’ in attack during the game:
“I admire Arsenal a great deal and tonight they didn’t do a lot in attack, but confirmed they are solid and difficult to break down. We will emerge stronger from this game, we learned a lot,” continued Gasperini.
“We have recently had some good performances, but did not express ourselves the right way against Inter. At least tonight we learned something about how to play against opponents of this level.”
With a point in hand, and seven games to go in this new Champions League format, playing for a draw might not have been a bad decision by Mikel Arteta.
Atalanta rue penalty miss
Gasperini also spoke on the penalty miss by Retegui, saying it would have been ‘an important moment’ to go 1-0 up in the game:
“Of course there are regrets, a penalty is always a big opportunity and going 1-0 up at that moment would’ve been important,”
“However, we should be happy with the performance, which was of a high level to match our opponents. Seeing the rebound, it was an exceptional save, but also the header was too close to him. It’s a pity, as that was perhaps the best performance Retegui had since he’s been here and he worked so hard tonight, he deserved a goal.”
Arsenal go into the weekend to face Premier league holders Manchester City. The Gunners are coming off an important win in the North London derby, beating Spurs 1-0 away from home.
Mikel Arteta believes his team are prepared for difficult games this season after seeing how they won ‘ugly’ against Spurs last weekend. The Gunners will still be without Martin Odegaard for the game at the Etihad.
