"In a week the championship closes: after the second half Milan is the team that has scored the most points with us, it is the most difficult opponent of the moment". Gian Piero Gasperini, manager of Atalanta, illustrates the meaning of the match with the Rossoneri on the eve, the third last match before Parma and Inter. "He is perhaps the most fit team at the moment, so they are also an important test for the Champions League in a prestigious stadium where we feel at home for having played the cup this year - continues the Nerazzurri coach -. We are in second place and for us it would be a great result, even if for some the latter are the first of the losers, because at the most we had reached the third last year ". Djimsiti, Palomino and Zapata seem ready: "With Bologna we suffered some bruises, but I think they are recovered", remarks gasperini. Shortly before Milan-Atalanta, on Friday evening, there will also be the French Cup final between the opponents of the Champions League quarter-final on 12 August in Lisbon and Saint Etienne: "We know Paris Saint-Germain, he has some of the best players in the world and it has dominated France for years. Maybe there was too much euphoria from someone for the draw: we will face it with our weapons anyway ".
Pioli now looks to future Milan, continuity is needed - enthusiasm is difficult to contain, and starting to think beyond August is inevitable. But Stefano Pioli, after signing the contract that extends his horizon with Milan until 2022, has done everything to show himself as placid as in the last tormented weeks in which the terminus seemed to be approaching instead. "I am struggling not to think about it, it is what I wanted and hoped for, so I am very happy - he admitted at the press conference on the eve of the match against Atalanta -. But we have a delicate match, very important for our present and future, as will be the last with Sampdoria and Cagliari: I have to stay focused on this season. Then I will have time to think about the next one and the satisfaction of being confirmed as Milan manager. " Faced with the disastrous 5-0 suffered seven months ago in Bergamo, the CEO Ivan Gazidis had decided to evaluate other options, identifying Ralf Rangnick as the ideal manager to whom to entrust yet another Rossoneri revolution in recent history. Then, however, Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived and, during a year distorted by Covid, Pioli made the team take off, with an exploit after the lockdown. Up to gaining confirmation, with a salary increase to 2 million per season, plus bonuses related to results, including that in the event of a championship. So it is inevitable to start thinking about the future and its unknowns, starting from the fate of Ibrahimovic. Pioli will tell the company what he thinks about it. In public, he limited himself to underlining that the contribution of the Swedish 38-year-old "was exceptional, from a technical, motivational and character point of view, and therefore it is necessary to understand if there is the possibility, the desire to continue.