Soccer Football - Champions League - Knockout Phase Playoff - First Leg - Club Brugge v Atalanta - Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium - February 12, 2025 Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini REUTERS/Yves Herman
BRUGES, Belgium (Reuters) - Atalanta will face an uphill battle when they host Club Brugge in the return leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff on Tuesday, coach Gian Piero Gasperini said, after a late penalty earned the Belgians a 2-1 win in the first leg.
Brugge were awarded a soft penalty in injury time for a foul on Gustaf Nilsson by Atalanta's Isak Hien, whose hand appeared to brush against the Swedish striker's face before he tumbled to the ground when both chased after the ball.
"It's a tragedy that we are infecting football (like that)," Gasperini told Sky Sport after Wednesday's game. "Listening to footballers and coaches, they all have a completely different idea of fouls.
"Everyone dives to steal and win a yellow or a penalty. Football is now going in a direction that has nothing to do with the game. We accept it but I don't know the rules anymore and I certainly don't like it."
In the competition's new league phase, Atalanta were the highest finishers of the teams involved in the playoffs (ninth), with Brugge taking the last spot available (24th).
The Italian coach admitted it would be a challenge to reverse their fortunes when they welcome the Belgian champions.
"It will now be a feat, you have to win 2-0 against a good team," Gasperini said.
"We will have to expose ourselves a lot more, otherwise they will have half an hour of possession with the goalkeeper. It will be difficult to win by two goals; tonight's match needs to be analysed.
"We started badly but then we grew. You can't always be at your best and there are also the opponents but in the second half the sensational opportunities were ours and in the end we lost."
Midfielder Charles De Ketelaere, who joined Brugge aged seven and switched his hometown club for AC Milan in 2022 before moving to Bergamo a year later, also rued the game's late events.
"If you ask 100 people if it was a penalty, no-one will say yes," he said.
"(Playing here was) beautiful, I thank everyone for the warmth. But it hurts to lose at the last minute like this."
Atalanta midfielder Marten De Roon said the focus should now shift on to preparing for the return match.
"It's useless to talk (about the penalty), those who follow football know that it is not a penalty," he said.
"Let's leave it alone, we have to look at our performance which was not of a high level. (We were) better in the second half (but) we seemed a bit tired and this is the analysis we have to do to improve and try to get through the round."
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; editing by Clare Fallon)
