Josip Ilicic is a key piece for Gasperini in Atalanta, 1 DT inside the court, a magician for the pass and a decisive man facing the rival arc. But it was not always available to the Italian team, which this Wednesday is measured in Real Madrid for the round of 16 of the Champions League.
The Slovene would have been, according to press releases, in the mess that took out Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez, whom he always supported, but in the end resolved differences with the DT, who stated: “Ilicic is a recovered player “.
Recovered from what? He is a very reserved player but extremely sensitive, who is affected perhaps more than others by bad news.
He fled the war with his mother, had no father figure in his childhood and opened up a field in football as a way of survival, more than anything.
He married an athlete, had problems in his marriage (he is said to have suffered infidelity) and then came the most critical moments: he was diagnosed with lymphadenitis, an inflammation of the lymph nodes that was successfully treated but went leave many fears. When his friend Davide Astori died while sleeping in a hotel, Ilicic confessed, “These days I thought a lot about Davide, I was scared to go to sleep and not wake up, not see mine again.” .
And then came the pandemic, which struck first and with particular severity in Bergamo, the city where he lives. Dozens of daily deaths, crematoria, strict confinement rules put him on the brink of the abyss. Luckily his team accompanied him and allowed him to return to his country, with his family, in those days when everything was under arrest. He even missed the quarter-final match against PSG in the last historic Champions League for Atalanta.
But now he is fine and that is what Gasperini is celebrating, Colombians Muriel and Zapata who get along perfectly with him on the court and in general an Atalanta who needs him to give the surprise against Real Madrid.