Palladino's press conference ahead of Genoa v Atalanta

Raffaele Palladino spoke to the media on the eve of Atalanta’s trip to face Genoa on Matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Serie A Enilive season. The fixture kicks off tomorrow, Sunday 21 December, at 20:45 CET at the Ferraris stadium in Genova. However, before turning his attention to tomorrow’s fixture, the coach first spared a thought for Mario Pašalić following the recent loss that struck the Nerazzurri midfielder. “It has been an emotional week,” Palladino explained. “Yesterday (Friday ed.), after training, I travelled to Croatia with CEO Luca Percassi and a delegation from the club and the team to visit Mario and let him and his family know that the entire Atalanta family is close to them.”

He then shifted focus to the upcoming match against Genoa: “This is a very important game - the most important one since I arrived at Atalanta. It’s another test of maturity against a side in good form, who play with intensity and pace and are very difficult to face. We know it will be a completely different challenge compared to the Coppa Italia match.”

Palladino also reflected on his personal connection with the club: “I have wonderful memories of Genoa — I probably enjoyed the best years of my playing career there. But now we need to get back to winning away from home, as we haven’t managed it since 21 September. To do that, we’ll need a near-perfect performance. Away wins are crucial if we want to climb the table — we still have a mountain to climb.”