Gian Piero Gasperini admits he may leave Atalanta this summer despite leading them to the Europa League title... bizarrely comparing the situation to having the chance to have an affair.
Gasperini's men thrashed Bayer Leverkusen thanks to Ademola Lookman's hat-trick. It is the first time the Italian side have won a trophy since lifting the Coppa Italia over 60 years ago in 1963.
Wednesday's win was the culmination of eight years of hard work from Gasperini, who has transformed Atalanta from relegation battlers into one of Serie A's top teams, with frequent top three finishes and several cup finals being reached.
His work has drawn the eye of Atalanta's rivals Napoli though, who are searching for a new boss after a miserable season. Their title defence has been a disaster, with Gli Azzurri sitting tenth in the table heading into the final round of the campaign.
They have set their sights on appointing Gasperini and it appears the veteran boss will be tempted by a move. He failed to deny claims he could leave after Atalanta lifted the trophy, bizarrely comparing the situation to being married but having the chance to start an affair.
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“We are celebrating tonight, I will talk to the President tomorrow. We’ll see. I am in an odd situation sort of like where I am married with children, but meet an absolutely beautiful woman. Maybe that’s not a good example for me to say on television!” Gasperini told Sky Sports Italia.
"I don’t understand this thing about being judged by trophies. It’s not like I’m any better now than I was this afternoon. I think we wrote history, also for the way we won. The boys were extraordinary, a memorable performance.”
Gasperini led Atalanta to the Europa League title on Wednesday night (Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)Gasperini was keen to focus on his team's performance instead, as they ended Leverkusen's 51-game unbeaten run. He admitted he had been worried after Marten De Roon was injured earlier this week, but hailed his squad for stepping up.
“We watched their games, we studied all their approaches and the two matches in the semi-final against Roma really helped too. We had also played against them two years ago, we did well and there are still six or seven players from that squad," he added.
"Xabi Alonso arrived and did an extraordinary job, but we knew that there were ways of causing problems for them. Our gameplan worked from start to finish and these lads were extraordinary.
"Lookman scored three wonderful goals, when he arrived he was not quite a striker, more of a winger, but his best qualities are near the goal. He has this immediacy in taking the shot, scored a lot of goals last season, was missing for a long time due to the Africa Cup of Nations, but was decisive recently too.
“Not having Marten De Roon, I was worried. Koopmeiners had been playing in a more attacking role recently, so I was afraid he had forgotten a little bit how to win the ball back, but I needn’t have been concerned. The central midfielders, Koopmeiners and Ederson, were absolutely crucial both in defending and starting the attacking moves.”
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