Marco Baroni, coach of Lazio, commented on ‘Mediaset’ microphones about the 3-1 win against Napoli this evening, a match played at the Olimpico which allowed the Biancocelesti to secure a pass to the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup: “Hysaj played a great game tonight, he’s a boy who isn’t on the list but has always given us a hand: today I wanted to reward him and he responded really well on the pitch. I’m happy with how the team interpreted the match. I repeat, what we were interested in was getting through to the next round and we also did it with a good game.”
Did Lotito take Noslin or were you the one who asked him?
“He’s a boy that I’ve already had and when we spoke, we saw what we could do, he was a player in line with the club’s parameters. Some players who made Lazio’s history left, we started again with young players and he has the quality to play on all positions on the offensive front. He is a boy who also has moral qualities, works and wants to improve. We will give him space and time to grow.”
Could the fact that you set off with the lights off have helped you? What can you improve on?
“We are a team that must play football because it has quality. The players immediately understood our guidelines, what we wanted to propose, and they threw themselves into the work. I immediately told the boys that to try to be protagonists in the three competitions we had to consider ourselves all starters: for us they are rotations, I don’t want to talk about second lines. These are guys who always provide excellent performances every time they take to the pitch, even in the Europa League.”
In the summer, did you expect Lazio to be this far ahead at this point in the season?
“The growth process is progressing rapidly because from day one I found a very participatory team that went in the direction of our proposal. It’s nice to coach this Lazio team and this growth of the boys is thanks to them. Having said that, they are still there large margins for improvement: we can still grow and we must do so.”