Atalanta star aims dig at Alejandro Garnacho after Chelsea press conference claims - 'Now he knows'

Charles De Ketelaere has taken a swipe at the Argentina winger after his comments about Atalanta sparked some anger

Atalanta forward Charles De Ketelaere has aimed a dig at Alejandro Garnacho after Chelsea's loss to the Italian club in the Champions League.

The Blues took a first-half lead against La Dea through Joao Pedro. They were then pegged back after the break, with Gianluca Scamacca and then De Ketelaere finding the net for Atalanta.

Garnacho sparked some anger among those associated with Atalanta ahead of the game, when he admitted he'd not seen much of the team in recent seasons. "The last time I saw Atalanta was two years ago, in the Europa League final they won," he said in response to a question about Chelsea's opponents.

The apparent dismissal of the Bergamo club was not well received and speaking after the game to Sky Italia (h/t Goal), De Ketelaere made reference to Garnacho's comments.

"Now he knows who we are," he said. "For us, it's not possible to play games like Saturday's against Verona (a 3-1 loss) and then maybe win a match like today. We need to improve our consistency.

"We were coming off three wins and then there was this bad defeat, but we know we have great quality, and we proved it today.

"The most prestigious victory for us was the one in Dublin (the Europa League final in 2024), but if we want to play these games next year too, we need to do well."

The win for Atalanta pushed them up into third place in the Champions League league phase ahead of Wednesday's matches. Chelsea are now down in 11th and face a major fight to finish in the top eight and avoid the playoff round of the competition before the last 16.

The Blues play their final two league phase games in January, first at home to Pafos and then away to Napoli, who are managed by their former boss Antonio Conte.

Garnacho has yet to show his best since trading Manchester United for Chelsea in the summer, notching just two goals in all competitions.

Head coach Enzo Maresca has rotated his wingers frequently this season and Garnacho only played 24 minutes off the bench against Atalanta on Tuesday night.