Gasperini gives verdict after Arteta dominance claim – Suggests Arsenal played for draw anyway

On Thursday, Atalanta opened their Champions League campaign with a goalless draw against Arsenal at the Gewiss Stadium.

The Serie A side could have clinched three points, but Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was successful in stopping Mateo Retegui’s penalty and then his following header.

After the tie, Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal said were the dominant side yesterday.

“We started the game really well. I think in the first 20-25 minutes we were really dominant against a man-to-man team which is very, very specific and difficult to play against. I think we read the game really well and were on top of the game,” Arteta said, relayed by Arsenal’s official website.

“Suddenly we started to be very, very inconsistent with the ball. We started to give every ball away, very simple balls, and we lost control of the game. We didn’t suffer defensively at all, but in one action we conceded a penalty and we needed two of the best saves that I’ve seen in my career from David to stay in the game.”

Arsenal and the Europa League winners each registered two shots on target. However, La Dea made more attempts and had more possession than the north London club.

After the tie, Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini spoke to Sky Italia, relayed by Corriere dello Sport. He shared his views, after Arteta made the dominance claim.

After focusing on his side’s performance, the Italian went on to insist his side had a better chance of winning the Champions League tie. The Serie A side’s manager even suggests that Arsenal were pleased to have picked up a point.

“At the end, Arsenal seemed to me to want to settle for a draw, we lacked the play that could have allowed us to win the game,” he said.

“We complimented Arteta. Even tonight, Arsenal showed they are a compact and concrete team. We came out of this game better. We had played some good games recently, but we hadn’t expressed ourselves.

“Today we learned something. It wasn’t easy to beat them, but we had a better chance than them of winning it.”

The north London club will host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on October 1st.