Sarri: ‘Atalanta conceded a stupid goal, but with 14 players out, we take the point’

BERGAMO, ITALY - NOVEMBER 05: Head coach of Atalanta BC Maurizio Sarri looks on ahead the UEFA Conference League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and FC Kairat Almaty at Stadio di Bergamo on November 05, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Antonino Lagana/Getty Images)

Maurizio Sarri insists Atalanta ‘will take the point’ against Kairat Almaty, despite ‘conceding a stupid goal,’ and hope to secure Conference League qualification ‘when we have more of our squad available.’

La Dea badly needed a victory to boost morale as well as their standing in the Conference League after a win over Pafos and 2-0 defeat away to Ajax, but it was only a meagre point at home against Kazakh side Kairat Almaty.

They had gone behind to a classic counter-attack from Marc Gual, but managed to claw back an equaliser with substitute Nikola Krstovic.

Sarri forced to make do with Atalanta

“If you have 14 players out at the same time, and you consider this a week to relaunch the season, that seems tough,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.

“We had 10 players injured today, plus four who the medical staff told us should not be used for more than 30 minutes. We certainly could’ve won tonight if we hadn’t conceded a stupid goal, then it became an uphill struggle.

“Fortunately we didn’t give up, so we tried to the end to bring home a positive result. It was a struggle, we moved the ball around too slowly and failed to find spaces in a very defensive opponent.

“With so many difficulties that we were dealing with, we take the point and hope to secure qualification later in the tournament, when we have more of our squad available.”

Atalanta have not won any of their last seven matches between Serie A and the Conference League, and went into a three-day training retreat after Monday’s humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Parma.

Considering the side that Sarri put out this evening, did he expect better from his players?

“One always expects a lot from his players. Gianluca Scamacca was injured, so I only saw him train for the first time yesterday, so it’s hard to expect much more from him right now.

“Undoubtedly, I expected more from a few players, but we are in a period where we’re playing eight games in 23 days and forced to do it with the same limited group.”

It was always going to be difficult for Sarri to get Atalanta to adapt to his very different style of football after more than a decade in the Gian Piero Gasperini vein, but the injury crisis has slowed that process further.

“Clearly, this is a big transformation, and then if we have added difficulties like this… Tonight we played two defenders from the Under-23 team who only really have experience in Serie C, plus Kamaldeen Sulemana who got hurt on August 2 and has only been back with the team for four or five days.

“It’s also tough because none of the players have history with me, so what was already a complex process has had new layers of difficulty put on top.”