(Reuters) – Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini cautiously played down talk of his side winning the Scudetto on Sunday, despite their 3-0 thrashing of Serie A leaders Napoli on their own turf.
Atalanta are now second in the table with 22 points, three behind Napoli, following five consecutive wins in Serie A, but Gasperini declined to get excited.
“There are still 27 matches to go, and if you see Atalanta as winning the Scudetto I respect your opinion,” he told reporters.
“However all the games are different, I don’t know if we will always manage to have such a strong structure. If we manage to widen the circle a bit with other players we will progress but we will see further on.”
The 66-year-old Gasperini said there was potential for improvement as new players settled down in the team.
“The core of the team is very strong because last year we faced the Europa League and secured a Champions League spot, playing every three days,” he said.
“We lost Koop (Teun Koopmeiners to Juve) but we’ve brought in several players, with (Mateo) Retegui adapting the quickest. How well we can integrate these new players will determine our competitiveness.”
Atalanta’s vice-captain Marten De Roon endorsed his coach’s view.
“Our team achieved a great result, we showed that we are at a high level. We are not thinking about the Scudetto yet, it is a word very far from our objective,” he told DAZN.
“We must remain humble; at the end of the championship we will see where we can get to. We have a very clear way of playing, always pressing high to keep the attackers high.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; editing by Clare Fallon)
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