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2.45pm – Lazio doesn’t want to stop Marco Baroni in the Europa League, where he watches everyone from the top of his first place in the standings. Three victories, nine goals scored and only one conceded which are the absolute record in the championship phase of the Europa League. Tomorrow Porto will be at the Olympic Stadium and the Biancoceleste coach Marco Baroni will present the match in a conference in a few minutes from the press room of the Formello sports centre. Follow the live text on TUTTOmercatoWEB
15.02 – Marco Baroni’s press conference has begun
What type of test will tomorrow be for Lazio?
“We try to field the team that is best also from the point of view of the energy expenditure of the last matches. Following this logic we will play an important, difficult and beautiful match. We are playing against an opponent of the highest international level, for us it is a real test and we have to face it with a high level performance.”
You haven’t won against the big teams yet, is your team still missing something in these matches?
“We are aware that we need matches with important opponents like these, they are the matches that give you depth and make you grow more. We are aware that we need very high level performances where you don’t have to do anything wrong on the field to face this opponent. The ability of suffering is linked to the aspect of expenditure on the pitch, there is compactness and the team also knows how to change the tone of the game. You can’t always build and dominate the game, you also have to know how to go down and not attack that situation requires attention, tomorrow you will need aggression against a team to which you have to give little space. You will need a lot of pressure on the ball.”
What differences did you see between the Porto coached by Conceicao and the current one?
“We have so little time to prepare for the matches, we had two days and we analyzed this team. They use the wingers very well, they have short dribbles but they know how to go vertically well. Tomorrow we will need a very high performance, they push a lot with the full-backs as let us do it. It will certainly be a good match, but a very open one.”
Can Dia and Castellanos play together tomorrow? Are we moving forward with Mandas in Europe?
“I had already expressed my opinion on goalkeepers, our starting goalkeeper is Ivan, but when the conditions are right, like I do for everyone else, you give yourself a chance, we have to think that everyone has to grow, especially in that role there aren’t many spaces. I’m still taking this last training session to evaluate, the hierarchies won’t change if there were to be a change but an opportunity for Mandas to grow is here and will certainly be in the match because he didn’t play in the last one due to suspension on the training, we have some ailments due to the many close matches. With these two matches missing to close a cycle of seven matches in 21 days, my attention, that of the technical and medical staff, must be aimed at managing these resources”.
What opportunity is Lazio for you? What impact is Nuno Tavares having at Lazio?
“We thrive on great opportunities, we knew very well about Nuno’s qualities and we try to put each player in a position to perform at their best. This is the primary objective, if we raise individual performances we raise team performances. We must have opportunities in our lives always grasp them.”
What title would you give to define your Lazio?
“It’s difficult to reduce it to a title or a word, I believe we have drawn a guideline. I have always tried to offer courageous football to my team, made up of work and emotion. I like this aspect, I want to see these characteristics from I found an extraordinary participation, the team understood the proposal and is following it. We still have to work hard to create a strong identity, we need matches of the highest level and tomorrow’s match will be important.”