Atalanta has been his first love, Fiorentina an amazing story he's never forgotten. La Viola and the Nerazzurri will face each other this afternoon at the Artemio Franchi stadium and it won't be a game like the others for Cesare Prandelli: "I've got a season ticket at the Franchi stadium to watch every game of Chiesa and his teammates. Fiorentina is one of the most entertaining teams". He's given an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport saying this, even if he hopes to give his ticket to a friend as soon as possible. The objective is to find a coaching job: "Looking for a new adventure, here in Italy".
About Chiesa: "He's the most important talent in the league, this boy keeps on getting better game after game and he wasn't even afraid of the €70m evaluation. He will be important for Pioli and the new national team coach Mancini who needs players with a great personality. In the last minutes against Inter, Federico has shown he could beat the whole Inter defense on his own. It's not something small for a player that young". He's not the only one to watch in this team though: "In football, you can't have a great career based only your name. You have to show your value on the pitch. And the young Simeone is the classic striker every coach likes. The Cholito presses, covers, makes assists, scores. What more do you want?".
Goals, victories and the beauty of the youth. Fiorentina is all about this, aside from Davide Astori who's always there: "I get goosebumps when at the 13th minute of every game the fans start chanting the Capitano's name. And at the end of the game when the players go to salute him in front of the Curva. Florence hasn't forgotten about a great man. It's nice in a world where everything burns so fast". Playing for him then, with Europe as an objective: "This is a weird season. Even the Champions League race could give us surprises because some big clubs have difficulties. I'd advise Fiorentina and Atalanta to believe in their potential and to have important objectives".
On the other hand, there's Atalanta who needs to get back to winning: "They're still mentally paying the unfair elimination of the Europa League. They're wounded and need time to heal. It's a new year for Atalanta, a new start tactically wise. They need time to change mechanisms that were in the players' heads. Remember the difficulties Atalanta had when Gasperini began there. In football you need a lot of patience to build a team". In the meantime, Prandelli congratulated Percassi (Atalanta's president): "Renewing Gasperini's contract was a great move".
