Reporter Zhang Kai reported that the myth of the Champions League was created in a clear stream, and the city was the first disaster area of the epidemic in Italy, and fate and Atlanta made a sad joke. Now that the situation is getting better and Serie A is resumed, what kind of excitement will this team that has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League give to the fans? What kind of positive energy will be transmitted to the hometown? Not in the championship group, but they are already the real first army of Serie A.
◆ Milano Sport: Mr. Gaspé, to be honest, have you ever been afraid?
Gasperini: Yes, extreme fear.
◆When?
The day before the second leg with Valencia started to feel wrong, the afternoon of the game was even worse, and I was holding on in the coach's seat, and my expression was ugly. It should have been 10 March (18 days after the diagnosis of Patient 1 in Italy). For the next two nights, I couldn't sleep at camp in Jingonia, just squinting for a few tens of minutes. At that time, I didn't have a fever or a cold, but it felt like a 40-degree fever. I was also nervous because every two minutes I could hear the ambulances outside, and there was a hospital near our bootcamp.
How to say it, it's a bit like a wartime state, you can imagine what scene in the hospital. I asked myself: What would have happened if I had taken the initiative to go to the hospital? Will it be isolated for observation? Immediately deny your own thoughts, now is not the time to seek medical treatment, there is still too much to do. I was smiling and telling the club and the players that I didn't want them to worry, but that was what I really thought.
◆ And then what? What happens again?
On Saturday, March 14, I did a high-intensity personal training session that I hadn't had in years, practicing for an hour in the gym and running more than ten kilometers on the treadmill. I deliberately set this amount of exercise for myself to test if I had any problems. The result was good, I felt good, and I doubled my strength around me. Atlanta's die-hard fan and professional chef Victorio sent me 25 hens and a few bottles of Don Perignon champagne (France's finest champagne, known as the father of champagne), all from 2008, a great craft wine.
I gathered the coaching staff to taste it, and I finished my champagne and said, 'Isn't this just water?' My assistant coach, Tuglio Gorritti, looked at me in amazement: 'What's wrong with you?' Laughing? It's superb, the best champagne I've ever had. Then, when I ate pigeon meat, I felt as tasteless as bread. I lost my sense of taste and didn't know how to do it. The good stuff was divided away by my assistants and physiotherapists.
I spent three weeks in camp In Kingonia and then went to my hometown in Turin (Note, Gasperini is a Turin native, and his coaching career began with the Juventus academy), where I kept my distance from my wife and children. Because I didn't have a cold and fever, I didn't do a nucleic acid test. About ten days ago, I did a serum test to confirm that I had been infected with the new crown virus, and I had antibodies in my body, but it did not mean that I was immune now, and I had to be careful.
◆What do you think of the city of Bergamo?
Sad, but dignified. The city has fallen to the bottom of an unprecedented valley of sadness, and this air can be breathed everywhere at any time. In the eyes of passers-by, inside bars and restaurants, there is silence and silence everywhere. One of my teaching assistants lost his father during the pandemic, and I still remember his look. Even so, everyone, the whole city, is moving forward, moving forward with great grief and strength, not backwards. I think that being in the center of the whirlpool will produce a little unconscious numbness, and when you are accustomed to fear, you will not know the fear, and only when you look back many years later will you understand more clearly what is happening. The so-called palpitations in the heart refer to the time when you look back later, you will be afraid, and you will cherish the life in front of you.
◆ Is Bergamo ready for a football restart? So fast?
Yes, it doesn't matter how fast or slow, the club and I have repeatedly advocated a resumption of the game as soon as possible. Many people feel that the resumption of football is meaningless in the context of the epidemic, not a friendly explanation to the victims, I am just the opposite, I think this is the best explanation! The living must embrace life with a more courageous and fearless spirit, as a football person, devote themselves to their own work, and do a good job to the greatest extent, which is the answer to all compatriots. I saw the night when military cards transported bodies out of town for cremation, while large numbers of citizens sang the Italian national anthem on their balconies. Seeing this scene, do you still say that you want to stop and do nothing? Every day just watching the doctors and nurses busy to the point of falling, and we are moral lobbyists?
The Atlanta Brigade has a responsibility and can be a bellwether for the reopening of the entire city, of course, with the greatest respect for the dead and the suffering. All of our players have not left Bergamo during the epidemic, some people have suffered from being separated from their relatives, some players have lost a lot of weight, maybe the psychological pressure is too great, which is enough to show that they share the same fate with the city, and no one wants to be a deserter.
Now, everyone is like a body with electricity, wishing the game had to start quickly, they had to prove the strength of Bergamo on the pitch! What a collective and a fighter we are! In the future, the celebrations at Bergamo's airport and square, I have been imagining, that it will be the most needed element of the city.
◆So, the urban epidemic will become a source of strength for Atlanta?
Of course! And not in Serie A alone, I am eager to see foreigners in the Champions League. Our appearances and victories deserve greater cheers.
◆ You often compare your players to wolves, how are you now in the state of your wolves?
Very hungry, hungry for the game and the victory! Like a wolf who hasn't eaten for days. They are working when they are in home isolation, and the amount and effect of training are guaranteed every day, and their physical condition is no problem. As for the ball to cooperate, of course, it will be a little sparse, but football is like riding a bicycle, you learn, this life will be, will not forget, the technical level can soon be restored. What I am more worried about is not their leg muscles, lower limb strength, etc., but whether the upper limbs will be more stiff, that is, how coordinated and bouncing, which is a major hidden danger of injuries.
Therefore, after the retraining, I gradually increased the pertinence and fully mobilized my body. In addition to the body, my players are most commendable for their spirits, they have always been optimistic, and when the epidemic was at its worst, they never thought that they would not play this season, and they all held the determination to finish the season. It's like the upward pressure of our game without the ball, you can make up for it. Players have this mentality, which is my luck.
◆What are the opinions of the club executives? Are you also inclined to finish the rematch?
yes. 100% and without hesitation. When you media are full of stories about the possibility of a season being cancelled, how to calculate the standings, and only letting the team play in the Champions League, we have never had that kind of idea. I am deeply honored by such a club. I'm also a footballer and I know that some insiders are counter-vocal, leading to huge divisions within football, who think only about their own interests and forget about the social attributes and economic contribution of football.
Some people are against the rematch, just because they have played badly this season, just not to play, this selfishness is too despicable! I also pay attention to swimming, tennis and other sports, but only watch the big games, some of them only once every four years, they are not as dense as football in line with our daily life, not as shocking as football, at least in Italy, football is a sport that everyone has a share and enjoys. Like clocks in this country, they have to go all the way, and if there is a fault, they have to be repaired quickly.
◆ Football without spectators is also a national clock?
I don't like empty games myself, nobody likes them, but that's the only way to get back. Empty matches are also difficult for TV viewers, such as in the first round of the Bundesliga resumption, which I myself will be difficult to watch, except for Dortmund and Bayern. I've found that players who are well-known in the Bundesliga make low-level technical mistakes, which are the inevitable result of a shutdown for too long and then a restart. In empty combat, it is not easy for players to maintain concentration, it is easy to lose their minds in a silence, but there are audiences who applaud and even applaud, which is conducive to the concentration and emotional release of players.
◆ Milan Sport: In a week of double matches, can you still do your high-level pressing pressure?
Gasperini: Of course, we're tired, and our opponents are tired! We don't change the way we play, even in the Champions League, people think we should be cautious in the face of strong opponents, we still force pressure. I'm glad that the players never suggested to me to back down a bit, even after the five-goal defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League. After that, I hung a banner at the boot camp that was Mandela's famous quote: We are never unbeaten, either win or learn.
◆ How about the reform of five people in a single game?
Oops! It will damage the game that football should have. Football became basketball, or racing, and allowed engines to be changed halfway through. At the end of the game, the two sides sent a total of 10 new players, which is like a changed game compared to the original setting and trend of the game, which is two games or more. I really want to ask, who is so genius to invent this method? Why do you think this will reduce injuries? Fatigue is only one reason for injuries, many injuries are in the first half and training, how do you explain?
It is conceivable that the substitution increases, the team is deformed, the formation is elongated, all want to seek goals to increase the manpower in the front, ignore the distance between the midfield and the line, the scene may be more exciting, the goal will increase, but in terms of the development of football skills and tactics, it is a kind of retrogression, and those thoughtful teams that hone the compact lines and the whole team will suffer a great blow. I think it's useful to ask the team to change a certain number of main players in two adjacent games, rising to the rules. Or, as Galliani proposed, asking for a smoother game and fewer interruptions is a good way to avoid injuries.
◆ Gomez and Illisic, how do you use them? Do you play some time in each game?
Don't worry! Gomez treats the game as training, only the game can make him play at a high level, and he can't lift his spirits in daily training, so he can guarantee a three-day match. Illisic has changed drastically this season, planting himself in the training camp and practicing fiercely, I wonder how he suddenly opened up to be so cruel to himself? I don't know who convinced him, but not me anyway. Obviously, he is stronger now than before, with better endurance and explosiveness, but he still needs to gain weight, and he can take a proper rest, without having to be as continuous as Gomez.
Don't forget, we've found the best Zapata, Collie and Traore can also give a certain amount of time, and I don't lack anyone in the front. In addition, the players introduced in the winter window of Sutaro and Tameze are also really ready during the epidemic. Malinovsky is the best player for us to play on the bench and change the face of the game halfway, he has this kind of understanding, has an understanding of the game observation and opponent's weak points, and is very smart in running position and shooting.
◆ This season, Atalanta has won the most points in Serie A, but the home stadium is average, and now the empty field has lost the home-and-away difference, should you be happy?
What is this called? It is true that some points were lost at home this season, but the hard battle of direct dialogue in the closing stages of the league is another matter, not year-on-year, we also have to play Lazio, Napoli, Inter at home, I think it is a big loss to us without the audience. When the fans came in, I felt that the odds were greater.
◆ Are you wolves afraid of the wolves of Rome?
Roma are a good team and I admire Fonseca, but we have won both legs this season, which shows that we are better than Roma. My focus now is not on Roma chasing behind us, but on Inter in front of us! If we win the 25th round of the make-up game and win Sassuolo, the advantage over Roma is even greater, and I think about how to catch up with Inter. (Currently, Atalanta is one point ahead of Roma in the first round of the junior round, and 6 points less than Inter in the same round)
◆ Last question: Would you like to say publicly that Atalanta will definitely not win the Champions League?
Atalanta won't win the Champions League, but I'm not that sure.