Gian Piero Gasperini was not best pleased when Papu Gomez's name was brought up immediately after Atalanta had qualified for only their fifth Coppa Italia final ever.
He initially tried to laugh it off. "Papu Gomez?" the coach said during his post-match interview with Rai Uno. "I've lost my memory!"
But he could not contain his frustration for long.
"I must say," Gasperini continued, "that it's a little strange that on a night like this, with two goals from Matteo Pessina, that you've managed to ask me a question about Gomez."
Gasperini can be a prickly character at times, but he was right to be annoyed. The focus that night should have been on Pessina – not Papu.
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Of course, the Gomez-Gasperini divorce had understandably been of great interest to the sporting press throughout the winter. The circumstances surrounding the captain's departure had captivated football fans all over Italy.
And yet in spite of the loss of their inspirational attacker to Sevilla during the January transfer window, Atalanta had managed to reach a second Coppa final in three seasons thanks primarily to the man who had stepped into Papu's position, Pessina.
However, as the versatile midfielder pointed out himself on Rai after scoring twice in the decisive 3-1 win over Napoli, "I'm not Papu's replacement."
And he is not. He is something different, in every sense.
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Pessina hates the image that the average person has of footballers: flash, egotistical and ignorant. As he argues, most are just normal family men. But even then, he is a little bit different.
In a recent interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, he discussed his love of ballet, his proficiency in Latin and his interest in business. Indeed, he revealed that when he retires, he would like to become a director general at a club.
It is not a pipe dream, either. The son of an accountant, he is, perhaps unsurprisingly, just over halfway through a five-year degree in accountancy.
And if his father has influenced his fondness for financial affairs, it is his architect mother who has nurtured his fascination with geometry, something which he says influences the way he sees his own profession.
"In my role, you need to have ideas and creativity," the 23-year-old told the Gazzetta. "You turn on the light in your head, and you see a passing line and a team-mate where a moment before there was nothing. Between thinking about the pass and executing it, there passes only a millisecond.
"I went to a science school, so a lot of maths and geometry. There are subjects that open your mind, that promote speed of thought. They get you used to learning more things, and quicker too.
"Today, I take on board quickly the things that the coach asks. So, yes, I'd like to think that my cultural and personal formation has influenced the role and, especially, the way I play."
There is no denying that. Pessina is one of those rare talents capable of understanding and undertaking every role in midfield because his is a game based on intelligence, disciplined defensive work and precise passing.
As former Italy international Antonio Cassano has noted, with Pessina playing as an attacking midfielder instead of Gomez, Atalanta concede fewer goals.
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They have not abandoned their cavalier approach to the game, which is founded upon creating one-on-ones all over the pitch, but there has been an undeniable shift in their approach.
Indeed, Gasperini has argued that even before his relationship with Gomez deteriorated, he was leaving the Argentine out of the starting XI more and more.
"I had to help the team because we were not controlling the game," the coach explained to Sky Sport Italia, "so I decided to help [Marten] De Roon and [Remo] Freuler with this decision [to pick Pessina] because there was a need to change something."
Gomez dismissed Gasperini's claim, but there is no denying that Atalanta have become even more difficult to beat with Pessina on the pitch. The stats speak for themselves: Atalanta have not lost a single game that he has started this season.
Even as a substitute, he has only been on the losing side once, playing 34 minutes at the end of the 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool in the group stage of the Champions League.
Tellingly, he had been restored to the team for the historic 2-0 win at Anfield in the return fixture, while he was even more influential when Atalanta booked their place in the last 16 with a 1-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam, being named man of the match by the Gazzetta for "never losing the ball".
If that measured display proved he could help control a game, his performance against Napoli in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals proved that he could also decide one too.
The one doubt over Pessina up until that point was whether he could rediscover the goalscoring touch that had seen him net seven times during a hugely successful loan spell at Verona last season.
The Premier League-obsessed Chelsea fan who grew up idolising prolific England midfielders Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard had netted just once going into the game in Bergamo on February 10.
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So, his decisive two-goal haul felt like the confirmation everyone was awaiting: that Pessina – who earned his first Italy cap in November – can offer penetration as well as precision.
Both strikes came after Lampard and Gerrard-like surges into the area, and his second effort showcased his mix of instinct and intelligence, with Pessina latching onto a deft lay-off from Duvan Zapata before nutmegging Giovanni Di Lorenzo and then calmly dinking the ball over David Ospina.
The challenge now, of course, will be to deliver against even grander rivals when Atalanta host Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash in Bergamo on Wednesday night.
He will not shy away from the challenge, though. On the contrary, he will relish it, particularly as he will be going up against another one of his idols in Toni Kroos.
Pessina has already undertaken quite the journey to get to this point. He has gone from Monza to Milan to Bergamo, via loan spells at Lecce, Catania, Como, Spezia and Verona.
Such a transient existence would have broken many young footballers, yet he made it work for him. He learned, he improved, he succeeded.
"My favourite motto is a Latin phrase," Pessina told the Gazzetta. "Gutta cavat lapidem, a drop of water hollows a stone.
"It fully represents my philosophy of life and work. Because I, too, achieve objectives slowly, one day and one step at a time, without being seen."
His talent will be there for all to see on Wednesday night, though, and another match-winning display really would make Gasperini forget all about Gomez.