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Why we lost against Lecce – Lookman’s manager Gasperini explains

Nigerian forward, Lookman, attempted a shot that resulted in a goal but was disallowed for offside.

Atalanta’s manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, has explained why his team fell to U.S. Lecce at the Gewiss Stadium.

The Gambian international Assan Ceesay and Leece’s midfielder Alexis Blin scored goals for Marco Baroni’s men, who upset the Bergamo-based club by defeating them at home by a score of 2 goals to 1.

Four minutes before kick-off, the Gambian striker scored with a long-range shot. Nigerian international Ademola Lookman quickly responded with a long-range attempt of his own, but Italian goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, who is 1.95 metres tall, denied him.

Once again, Lookman scored a goal off a feed from his paring partner, Rasmus Højlund, in an effort to tie the score, but the linesman flagged him for being offside.

Blin, meanwhile, increased the advantage for the visitors when he rose to head the cross from Gabriel Strefezza past Juan Musso. On the other half of the pitch, Falcone’s pass was intercepted by Højlund, who scored the hosts’ consolation goal.

After the game, Gasperini revealed to Sky Sports that Blue-Blacks had several opportunities that may have resulted in goals, but they all failed to materialize.

“We pushed hard and created a lot of situations, kicking a lot on goal. Everything went wrong. We always take these goals at the beginning, and it’s not like a great team. Perhaps we also lacked a bit of quality in our shooting and passing. Then we also suffered on corner kicks, taking the doubling goal. We created a lot of problems for ourselves, and our forwards didn’t have the brilliance to turn the chances we created into goals.” As reported by Tutto Atalanta, he remarked.

The manager acknowledged the challenge of the next encounter against AC Milan, where a victory might improve their prospects of qualifying for the Champions League.

“No, it’s more difficult. It always depends on how the match goes. If we had taken advantage of an opportunity, it would have gone differently today. The bad signals taken on the two goals remain”. he added.

With 41 points, Atalanta is currently in sixth position in the league standings, 21 points behind league leader Napoli.

 

Ayomide Oguntimehin

Ayomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and an Editor at Soccernet.ng, with a proven track record in conducting interviews with Super Eagles stars such as William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ademola Lookman, and many others. He has also made a significant impact in breaking transfer news stories. Grounded in video editing, video journalism, social media management, and content strategy, Ayomide brings a wealth of expertise to his work. With a Bachelor's degree in English Language from Adeyemi College of Education and a Master's Degree in School Library and Media Technology from the University of Ibadan, Ayomide is well-prepared to excel in the field.

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