Gasperini attacked Alejandro Gomez?

Alejandro Gomez claimed that he had left his former club, Atalanta, after head coach Gian Piero Gasperini tried to 'physically attack' him in the dressing room during a Champions League match against Midtjylland in January only for Gasperini to later deny it completely and claiming the incident to be the opposite way around.   

Speaking to La Nacion, an Argentine daily, Gomez opened up about the reason why he left Atalanta. 

"I disobeyed him in a tactical indication," Gomez told newspaper La Nacion of how the controversy began. 

"There were 10 minutes left until the first half was over and he asked me to play on the right, while I was playing very well on the left. And I said no.

"Having done that in the middle of the game, with the cameras ... it was perfectly [fine] that he got angry. I already knew that at half-time he was going to take me out, and so [he did].

"But in the halftime locker room he exceeded the limits and tried to physically attack me."

Gomez revealed that he had approached club president Antonio Percass, seeking an apology from Gasperini. But Gomez mentioned that the apology never came and instead the Argentine was made to train with the reserves. 

"When there is physical aggression, it is already intolerable. So I asked for a meeting with the president of the club, Antonio Percassi, and I told him that I had no problem continuing, accepting that I had been wrong: as a captain I had not behaved well, I had been a bad example disobeying the coach.

"But I told the president that I needed an apology from Gasperini," Gomez added. 

"The next day there was a meeting of the entire team," the player said. "I apologised to the coach and my teammates for what had happened. And I did not receive any apology from the coach.

"After a few days I communicated to the president that I did not want to be at Atalanta working with Gasperini. The president told me that he was not going to let me out, that he was not going to release me. The tug of war began and the costs were for me that they separated me from the squad and I ended up training only with the reserves.

"It was ugly because after seven years they left me lying there, after everything I gave the club. They behaved badly. The president did not have the balls to ask the coach to simply apologise to me. That was the end of everything."

Gomez, however, had left the Serie A club for Sevilla last January. 

Meanwhile, responding to the comments from Alejandro, Gasperini claimed the incident was the opposite way around in a statement to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Gomez's behaviour and attitude, on and off the pitch, had become unacceptable for the coach and his teammates," Gasperini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"The physical attack came from him, not me, but the real reason he left Bergamo is because he seriously disrespected the owners of the club.

"I hope that Gomez can continue to be talked about for his performances, as he did at Atalanta."