Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini was relieved to overcome Bologna 3-2 on Saturday.

Mattia Caldara's winner has Atalanta temporarily in fourth place.

Gasperini said, “These are three very, very important points. It was a difficult match, so winning it gives us confidence going forward and it is a good advantage to have in the table.

“At this stage of the season, the game with Milan will very probably be decisive for Europe. There are another three rounds before that, but it will be decisive for something – we'll see which position later.

“We have to analyse what didn't work today, especially after we started so strong. There was no need to suffer this much, even if Bologna deserve credit for fighting back.

“We weren't filtering the balls out in midfield and that put extra pressure on the defence. We didn't quite understand each other today, then Papu Gomez had a knock and was limited. Losing Franck Kessie to injury wasn't helpful either.

“The midfield was struggling, so I introduced Alberto Grassi to cut out some of the space that allowed Bologna to attack us head-on."