Palermo Coach Beppe Iachini said confidence and hard work paid off in a surprise 2-0 victory away to Milan.
The Sicilians had the worst away record in Serie A going into this weekend, yet conquered San Siro.
Palermo Coach Beppe Iachini said confidence and hard work paid off in a surprise 2-0 victory away to Milan.
The Sicilians had the worst away record in Serie A going into this weekend, yet conquered San Siro.
“We continued to play and believe in what we’ve been doing for over a year with this squad. At times we’ve done equally well against big teams without getting the result we deserved,” Iachini told Sky Sport Italia.
“This is satisfying for the lads and the fans, but we haven’t really achieved anything yet and have to keep pushing. We need to put into practice what we test out during the week. Over the weeks we have grown in confidence and now we are reaping the rewards.
“Milan are an excellent squad and seeing what they did in previous rounds, we knew that we needed a perfect Palermo performance. By moving the ball around quickly and pressing them high up the field, that was the only way to really hurt them.”
Paulo Dybala found the net by shrugging off Cristian Zapata and it was strangely his first away goal in Serie A.
“Paulino has been working with us for a while and figuring out the movements of a centre-forward. He is young and with this humility he can go far, becoming a player worthy of a top club.”
Franco Vazquez is now being used behind Dybala, whereas earlier this season he was a trequartista with two forwards.
“We have to maintain a certain balance. In some games we were able to use Vazquez behind two strikers, but this solution puts him between the lines and he can create space for the midfielders to push forward too.
“We will continue working on two strikers plus Vazquez, as I am convinced that with the overall improvement of the squad we will be able to use that system.”