Gian Piero Gasperini made a bold promise after Atalanta smashed four past Juventus last weekend and reignited their Serie A title bid, with Inter Milan coming to town on Sunday.
Speaking to Portuguese broadcaster Sport TV and still on a high after a stunning 4-0 victory in Turin, veteran coach Gasperini said that if Atalanta won their first ever Scudetto he would travel to Brazil and dance the samba.
“I’ll go to Rio, meet up with my old friend Leo Junior and have a dance,” Gasperini said, before addressing the former Brazil midfielder directly on camera.
“If I win the title I’m definitely going, I’m definitely coming to see you.”
Gasperini, who played with Leo Junior at Pescara in the late 1980s, had every reason to be elated after having just watched his team slice through Juve almost at will.
But Sunday’s clash with league leaders and reigning champions Inter could be Atalanta’s — and Gasperini’s — last dance in what has been an unprecedented tilt for a league crown.
Atalanta are three points behind Inter in third place but will need to snap a dismal run of results at home if they are to pull level with their more illustrious Lombardy rivals.
They haven’t won at home in Serie A since before Christmas, collecting just four points from five matches in Bergamo and failing to even score against lowly Cagliari and Venezia in their last two outings at the Gewiss Stadium.
That home hoodoo stands in stark contrast to some fizzing displays on the road, with four wins on the bounce and 14 goals scored without reply at Verona, Empoli and Juve in the last month.
And Sunday’s match could also be one of Gasperini’s last of his wildly successful nine-year tenure in Bergamo, which has seen the 67-year-old drag the traditionally tiny club to
Serie A
Atalanta
Gasperini
Inter Milan