“The only thing that matters is the Cagliari match, what happened shook everyone and this shock must make us come up with something.” Talk like this Paolo Zanetticoach of Hellas Verona, fresh from the very heavy home defeat against Inter (0-5) in the last round of the championship. Next day, a very delicate trip to Sardinia is scheduled for the Scala team and Zanetti commented on the moment in the press conference like this: “We went into retreat, also taking away what may be our freedoms. We did it to look inside ourselves and prepare as best as possible the match, we must leave behind the waste of the last match. We are here and we can play our championship well.”
How is this retreat going?
“We will only know if the retreat will work after Friday. We certainly used all the time of the day to think about our next commitment, without being distracted by everything superfluous. If we have to use more time of our day and we will need it, we will do so in the future too “.
In Cagliari, choices of rupture or continuity?
“I think we’re starting from scratch, then not everyone accepts these moments in the same way, for example abroad it’s something that doesn’t exist and I had to explain it to the players. I’ll make some evaluations relating to the week and whoever demonstrates that they have the club’s fate is at heart.”
Water in your throat?
“Yes but not for the ranking position because we must remember that today Hellas is within the objective and has all the potential to reach it because if there are teams behind them they probably have problems too. The water in the throat is for a we set ourselves a bar but were unable to maintain it. This team has fighting in its DNA, they already achieved it last year when they had four points less, but today we feel defeated and dejected, obviously it’s annoying. to we first and we first want a reaction that must be there.”
Important direct clash?
“It’s an important match for both of us, we come from different times, Cagliari has probably already passed our moment with a withdrawal at the beginning of the season. It will be a difficult and hard-fought match but it would have been so regardless of the moment, we will go to a hot pitch in which we will have to bring out our best, from a mentality point of view we must give more. We must focus on what we have to do and not on what has been done. Above all, we must have the ability and clarity to manage the moments the footballers who must go onto the pitch without fear, without worries, and give 100% for Hellas.”
Read Paolo Zanetti’s full press conference here
Serie A, the updated standings
1. Napoli 29 points
2. Atalanta 28
3. Inter 28
4. Fiorentina 28
5. Lazio 28
6. Juventus 25
7. Milan 19*
8. Bologna 18*
9. Udinese 17
10. Empoli 16
11. Turin 15
12. Rome 13
13. Parma 12
14. Hellas Verona 12
15. Lecce 12
16. Cagliari 11
17. Genoa 11
18. As 10
19. Monza 9
20. Venice 8
* one game less