Atalanta coach Gasperini laments Mbappe injury ahead of clash
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini bemoaned Kylian Mbappe’s injury as he claimed he hopes to face a fully fit Paris Saint-Germain side when his team take on the Ligue 1 club in the Champions League.
While Atalanta’s Serie A title hopes were all but extinguished by a 1-1 draw against Milan at San Siro on Friday, PSG returned to competitive action for the first time since March with a 1-0 triumph over Saint-Etienne in the Coupe de France final.
Their victory came at a cost, however, with star forward Mbappe going off injured following a robust challenge from Loic Perrin in the 31st minute.
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Mbappe later returned to the bench on crutches with one leg in a brace and seems a major doubt for PSG’s Champions League clash with Atalanta in Portugal next month.
However, when informed of Mbappe’s injury, Gasperini lamented the fact PSG may be without one of their best players.
“I’m sorry for him, I didn’t know,” Gasperini told Sky Italia. “Mbappe is a great guy, I hope it’s not serious.
“We don’t want to win due to the misfortunes of others.
“In fact, if you win against these types of players, your result means even more.”
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Atalanta’s draw leaves them five points shy of Serie A leaders Juventus, with Maurizio Sarri’s side able to clinch their ninth successive Scudetto with a win over Sampdoria on Sunday, though a point would be enough if both Inter and Lazio fail to win their matches.
Gasperini, though, decided to take a positive approach. “This was an important game for the run-in, it’s not easy to play Milan these days,” he added.
“We conceded in the first few minutes, then we regained balance and had a good game. I would say it’s an excellent point.”
Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring in the 14th minute, with Ruslan Malinovskiy missing a penalty for Atalanta before Duvan Zapata drew them level.
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