“We feel very good and I’m sure we will have a great performance, when they went to Catanzaro we were in a so-so moment and we played an excellent match. Now we need to do even better because they can put us in difficulty, but we have the weapons to respond and do the same.” This is how the Cremonese coach made his debut Giovanni Stroppa in view of the first leg against the Calabrians scheduled for tomorrow evening: “We will face Catanzaro in their stadium with the right approach and the right determination. Then in addition to tomorrow night’s match there is another one, there are two halves and we need to think about 180 minutes. Beyond the single episode we must understand that it is never over: what happens tomorrow will not have an impact on the next match, it will keep us open to any result.”
Then there is room for pressure with Cremonese who set out to win promotion and Catanzaro who have nothing to lose: “Today I think we are on equal terms, those who find themselves playing these matches have the same ambitions, we play a semi-final that has a 50% chance for each of the teams that will have maximum motivation. – continues Stroppa as can be read on the club’s website – In Catanzaro we could win or lose, we are both teams dedicated to dribbling and looking at the squads I would like to say that we have common technical objectives. We like playing football and winning matches through performance. Tomorrow will be a new discussion, different from the championship. Iemmello? He is a factor, he has found the right environment and is expressing himself at levels never seen before. But our attention is not only focused on him, but also on other players like Vandeputte and Petriccione, who I had in Crotone. Catanzaro is an important team“.
Stroppa then closes by talking about how the play-offs, already won at the time of Monza, should be approached: “Winning them is wonderful, but beyond this I believe that every story is different from the previous one. Of course, I’d like to say the same things in two weeks. We have an extraordinary opportunity and we must face it to the fullest, in all its facets. It will be very important to be physically well and have the right mentality, and the team has these characteristics: in football anything can happen, but we are certainly there.”