Gasperini Criticizes Zaniolo for Provoking Opponents After Goal

Atalanta's head coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, despite securing the team's tenth consecutive Serie A victory and maintaining the top position in the league, expressed significant frustration in post-match interviews.

He criticized his players for lacking the necessary maturity to compete for the Scudetto, urging them to learn from the team's veterans.

Upon arriving at the press conference, Gasperini admitted his anger and disappointment with summer signing Nicolo Zaniolo.

"Zaniolo scored a good goal and made some good moves when he came on; he has certainly improved in terms of team coordination and pace. He needs to work more on maintaining possession and defending.

"What we cannot tolerate is that every time he scores, he provokes the crowd, turning an advantage into a disadvantage. At that moment, Cagliari was shocked, and we created a situation where their fans were incited again.

"This is the second time he's done this, and it's intolerable. These behaviors show that we are not mature enough to compete for the Scudetto."

In the match against Roma, Zaniolo had also removed his shirt after scoring and received a yellow card for excessive celebration against his former team at the Stadio Olimpico.

While he might have had a reason for a special celebration at his former stadium, there was no real justification for running towards the Cagliari fans and shouting at them.

This action earned him a yellow card and caused the crowd to boo his every move until the end of the game.

Gasperini continued discussing how not everyone contributed defensively in the final minutes against Cagliari: "I have a very competitive team that sometimes, when all 11 don't play together, can cover for some others' problems. However, if we want to stay where we are in the standings, we need to improve. If I have to point something out to the team, it's that we could have been more effective in attack in the final minutes and thus suffered less. Fortunately, we have some warriors who are used to these kinds of games and are ready to defend even when we're one man down. I'm happy to be at the top and proud of these players."