Sarri: ‘All Games Are Tight at a European Level’

Maurizio Sarri expects his Lazio to fight for victory in the Europa Conference League clash against CFR Cluj, underscoring the importance of the competition.

The Biancocelesti were relegated to the third tier of European competition this season after finishing third in their Europa League group behind Feyenoord and FC Midtjylland.

Relegation to the Europa Conference League embarrassed sporting director Igli Tare when he said in October it was “a competition for losers like Roma”.

Speaking in a press conference (via TMW) Sarri initially hinted that the Europa Conference League was not an afterthought for his Lazio side.

Like any European competition, it has to be respected and we will do that.

The Italy manager addressed the priorities for this season and whether he would make any changes to his squad.

The league can give us access to more money and for a club that matters. If we talk about the sporting aspect, we must be interested in a European competition.

I will make my decisions based on player fatigue. I don’t know yet who will play in goal.

He spoke about adapting new signing Luca Pellegrini and whether players like Toma Basic would have a chance to impress against Cluj.

They have to show that in training, otherwise they’ll get a couple of chances on the bench.

Pellegrini is improving, he has to fit into a different line-up than the other Italians, he’s not ready for that yet, even if he’s doing his best. See you tomorrow.

He commented on Ciro Immobile’s recent struggles on the pitch following his injury woes.

He has a slight undertone of giddiness like those used to scoring a goal a game and haven’t done so in a few months.

He can’t play two full games in three days, we’ll see tomorrow if he will play the full game or not.

Sarri highlighted the pitfalls of the Cluj clash.

At European level, all games are close, there are no games that are not tough. If we thought like that, we would be sinning on the surface.

He stressed how long it takes to change a team’s mentality.

Building a mentality takes years, three or four days is not enough. It is born in everyday life.

The Lazio manager was asked if Mario Gila would return to the starting XI after his recent foot injury.

I’ll take him into account, he had a nagging injury and wasn’t at his best. Now I’ve seen him better and with Romagnoli out I’ll consider him.

He spoke about the work of Toma Basic and Matias Vecino, two players who hardly played in 2023.

Basic has gone through a period of tiredness, he seems to me to be growing. Vecino suffered mentally from the World Cup, he felt responsible for the elimination. Now he is better and he will be useful to us.

Finally, Sarri was asked if he expected a strong reaction from Lazio after the Atalanta defeat.

The situation is not dramatic, we lost a game after so much. We have to help ourselves and I think the boys can do that.

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