Duvan Zapata insists that he and his Atalanta team-mates “gave everything” in their 3-2 Champions League defeat against Villarreal on Thursday.
Atalanta required a win in order to leapfrog their opponents into second place in their final group-stage game, which had been rescheduled after heavy snowfall on Wednesday.
However, Arnaut Danjuma scored either side of Etienne Capoue to give Villarreal a 3-0 lead by the 51st minute, and Atalanta were unable to come back despite goals from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Zapata.
The Atalanta striker revealed that, despite the team’s regret at failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, they remain “calm”.
“We are disappointed,” Zapata said to Prime Video. “However, we are calm in the sense that we gave everything on the pitch.
“We are very sorry because we wanted to go through and be among the strongest 16. That’s how the game went, we need to think about the [league] because it is thanks to the [league] that we are here.
“We were in trouble in the first half also because they took the lead quickly. Then we tried to attack and draw quickly. I think we played against anxiety, they are a good team who played a great match.
“There is regret for every situation that could have been done better. We gave everything. We are very sorry, but I feel the group [is] calm because we have tried in every way possible to equalise.”
Abbiamo combattuto fino all’ultimo, ma non è bastato: siamo fuori dalla @ChampionsLeague.
We fought till the end, but it was not enough: we’re out of the #UCL.@Plus500 #AtalantaVillarreal #GoAtalantaGo pic.twitter.com/2WJ2wqveN7— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) December 9, 2021
Atalanta defender Rafael Toloi echoed his team-mate’s sentiments, apologising to the club’s fans for not winning the game but looking ahead to the rest of the season with optimism.
“Sorry we didn’t win, but I think we gave a good response in the second half,” Toloi told Prime Video. “We created beautiful situations. Sorry we didn’t win, now we have to continue in the league and watch the Europa League draws.
“We tried to play the game. We conceded a goal at the beginning [due to] a mistake and then they have quality players. We played a great game. Sorry for the result, [but our heads are] held high and we still have a whole season to go.”
Atalanta now drop into the knockout play-off round of the Europa League, where they will be drawn against a side that finished second in their group.
