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Raffaele Palladino and Atalanta director Luca Percassi (@atalanta_bc)
Atalanta director Luca Percassi refuses to be drawn on the future of director Tony D’Amico, linked with Milan, or coach Raffaele Palladino. ‘We will decide at the end of the season.’
It kicks off at San Siro at 19.45 UK time (20.45 CEST).
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You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.
La Dea have hit serious problems in the final weeks of the campaign, managing two points from the last four Serie A rounds, and knocked out of the Coppa Italia semi-final by Lazio on penalties.
Their chances of qualifying for Europe are now extremely slim, despite reaching the Champions League Round of 16 this term.
Atalanta future up in the air
There are multiple reports that director of sport Tony D’Amico has been targeted by clubs including Roma and Milan, with Cristiano Giuntoli potentially arriving.
“Rumours are part of this world. What we can say is that D’Amico is a director who has done very well for Atalanta, but with all due calm and focus, we will sit down and make decisions at the end of the season,” replied Percassi to DAZN Italia.
“There isn’t long to go, so we want to be concentrated on these remaining matches and then decide once that is done, as is our tradition.
“Every match is an opportunity to clarify the situation, our ambition is to keep growing, so we’ll see how the season ends. We need to defend seventh place, all I can say is that we want to do well.”
The focus now is on next season, and it remains to be seen if coach Palladino will be confirmed, having taken over from sacked Ivan Juric.
“We have always been very clear with the coach. I like to discuss these things once the season is completed, and we will do that this time too, but the dialogue is open and there is an honest rapport,” said Percassi.
If Atalanta finish seventh, it could technically be enough to qualify for the Conference League, but only if Inter beat Lazio to lift the Coppa Italia on Wednesday.
“There are teams competing for the Champions League and Europa League, if Atalanta did qualify for the Conference League, it would be a different result to one we’ve had in recent years, but still a solid result.
“There are teams this season like Como who were not in the top six last season, so Serie A is very competitive, we need to be ambitious to retain these European positions.”
