Angry Gasperini: ‘Nobody understands handball now’ | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini was proud of the dominant Atalanta performance against Torino, but blasted the referee and VAR. ‘Nobody understands anything now with handball.’

It was another frustrating evening for La Dea, who had 22 shots on goal and dominated possession, but came away with only a point from this 1-1 draw with Torino.

Berat Djimsiti’s header was cancelled out by a similar goal from Guillermo Maripan, but more importantly Vanja Milinkovic-Savic saved his third penalty of the season, denying Capocannoniere Mateo Retegui.

“Undoubtedly, it’s always a matter of centimetres in football and that can be the difference between a good chance and a goal,” Gasperini told DAZN.

“You rarely see a game so dominated by one team in Serie A, we had very attack-minded midfielders too, but lacked the finish. We had also scored with Bellanova, that was disallowed, there was a penalty we were not given and then we missed one too.

“We leave this game with regrets, but the performance three days after Barcelona was excellent.”

Gasperini counts new Atalanta injuries

epa11869033 Atalanta’s Gianluca Scamacca reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match Atalanta BC vs Torino FC at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, Italy, 01 February 2025. EPA-EFE/MICHELE MARAVIGLIA

Daniel Maldini was in the stands after completing his €13m transfer from Monza today, but Sead Kolasinac went off injured and Marco Carnesecchi pulled out in the warm-up too.

“We have very few players left in defence and Kolasinac added to that list today, while the forwards are also now rather stretched with so many games. Now we have another player in Maldini, who replaces Zaniolo, so we remain with the same number of players in the squad.”

The good news was meant to be the return of Gianluca Scamacca, getting his first appearance since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in August, but Gasperini revealed there was a problem there too.

“Sadly, after one minute of being on, Scamacca felt this problem in his quadricep. As there wasn’t long left until the final whistle, we kept him on and he will have tests.

“If nobody else arrives, we’ll make do with who we’ve got. Scalvini and Kossounou will be out for a long time, whereas Kolasinac is more common for players who have as many games as he does. The trouble is if you are out for just two weeks, you still miss four or five games.”

Gasperini tried and failed to contain his frustration at two refereeing decisions, because while Raoul Bellanova had a goal disallowed by VAR for handball, a considerably more obvious Saul Coco handling offence in the penalty area did not receive a VAR On-Field Review.

“We are in a very busy period, but the lads have been reacting so well to this stress. When you play this well, create this many chances and feel that something has been taken away from you, then that is a problem.

“The trouble now is we don’t know if we have to appeal to the referee or the VAR, who is making the decisions now?”

Gasperini was asked if there was any particular incident that made him angry and pointed out the footage of the handball penalty appeal was playing on the screen during their conversation.

“Don’t try to be smart with me, you are showing it on camera! It’s obvious that nobody understands anything now with handball, so if nobody understands, then any decision gets made and you can’t argue with it. Whatever you say, it gets framed however they like.”