Europa League-winning manager Gian Piero Gasperini suggests offer to take over rivals Napoli is 'like being married - but you meet a beautiful woman'... so what will his REAL wife think?!

Gian Piero Gasperini made a surprising comparison between speculation connecting him to the managerial position at Napoli and adultery after celebrating Atalanta's dazzling Europa League victory in Dublin on Wednesday evening. 

The Italian manager claimed his first major trophy after joining the Bergamo-based side in 2016 following their comprehensive 3-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen. 

Xabi Alonso's team suffered their first defeat of the 2023-24 campaign as their miraculous unbeaten run came to an end at the Aviva Stadium, brought to a halt by a rampant Serie A side who had already qualified for next season's Champions League after a strong fifth-place finish. 

The head coach was in high spirits after the trophy lift on the pitch, and took time to address his links away from the club to teams including Napoli, where manager Francesco Calzona has been in the dugout since February but is increasingly under-fire. 

2022-23's Scudetto-winners finished 10th a year on from their historic title win, and Gasperini has been tied in the Italian press to replacing Calzona to start afresh next season at his club's rivals Atalanta. 

'We are celebrating tonight, I will talk to the President tomorrow. We'll see,' Gasperini said when asked if he would be staying in his current role next season. 

'I am in an odd situation sort of like where I am married with children, but meet an absolutely beautiful woman. 

'Maybe that's not a good example for me to say on television!'

In reality, the 66-year-old is married, and has been since 1980, to his wife Christina, who previously worked as a school teacher. 

The couple have two children, Davide and Andrea, neither of whom are connected to football, and for over 44 years, Christina has been one of her husband's most trusted advisors. 

A mostly private individual, Christina surprised her husband on his 60th birthday with an interview with Gazetta dello Sport, in which she shared her thoughts on how her famously combustible partner has mellowed throughout his coaching career. 

'When he was young perhaps he was even more explosive, now he is a little more patient,' Christina said in the 2018 interview. 'But if he catches fire, he catches fire. 

'I always say, the Pope could be in front of him but he, if he has the firm conviction of being right, doesn't calm down. He tells me: 'What's the point of being a diplomat?'. 

'He never switches off, he is always focused. He has his notebooks and slates, he studies the players, teams or formations. His headquarters is the sofa. He lies down and maybe watches TV with the computer on his lap. 

'Sometimes I ask him: 'But how can you see two things at the same time?'. And he say: 'I'm listening'.' 

Christina also shared at the time how happy she was in Bergamo, in a city and at a club where they have been 'welcomed very well'. 

But six years later, the family could yet be tempted by a move to the south of Italy, with Gasperini last week intimating that he felt up to the task at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. 

'We are playing Wednesday, then after that we'll see,' Gasperini had said when asked about forging a new path at Napoli. 

'What the difference means to me is the challenge and whether it is credible in the choices and evaluations, that is the most important thing.

'Securing the Champions League place has an enormous value for me, as we work so hard to get into this competition, but the challenge is the most important thing. That is what my career is built on.

'Taking on Bayer Leverkusen is a challenge and then we'll see what happens,'

Reports last month suggested that former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte was drawing closer to agreeing a deal to join the Serie A big beasts, but speculation around the decorated head coach's move has since quietened.