Simone Inzaghi is very proud of Lazio after their 2-1 defeat to Juventus, explains the Jordan Lukaku exclusion and will not stand for ‘criticism’ of his team.
“I complimented the lads after the match, because with all the problems we’ve had since the lockdown, to come here and play really well was impressive. We showed great character,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
Simone Inzaghi is very proud of Lazio after their 2-1 defeat to Juventus, explains the Jordan Lukaku exclusion and will not stand for ‘criticism’ of his team.
“I complimented the lads after the match, because with all the problems we’ve had since the lockdown, to come here and play really well was impressive. We showed great character,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
“We’re certainly not lucky at the moment, as Ciro Immobile’s shot hit the inside of the post and bounced back out, then we conceded on a free kick with the handball.
“The important thing is that we want to celebrate a return to the Champions League after 13 years.”
The deadlock was broken by a penalty, awarded when VAR spotted that Bastos had charged down a Cristiano Ronaldo shot with his arm just inside the penalty area, as originally a free kick had been given outside.
“It’s difficult. You can trust Orsato and Mazzoleni. From some angles, it looks like it’s the armpit more than the arm. They both viewed it and took that decision, so no complaints.
“The timing was unfortunate, as it was straight after the restart and it was not a good time to go a goal down.”
Jordan Lukaku was only in the stands this evening, reportedly due to disciplinary action and not an injury.
“It was nothing massive, it’s just there are times that have to be met and Jordan got it wrong two games in a row, so it was only right to show the team that the rules matter.”
It was a brave decision, considering Lazio were absolutely decimated going to Turin anyway.
“There were 12 of us training, but we were organised and fired up. We still caused Juventus huge problems, despite the fact they can afford to have Gonzalo Higuain come off injured and Paulo Dybala come on.
“I get angry when people criticise this team, because we have 14 more points than last season, won the Supercoppa and have not been in the Champions League for over a decade.
“Lucas Leiva and Senad Lulic had operations, were meant to recover in six weeks, but it’s been four months without them now. Joaquin Correa suffered a traumatic injury. We’ve had to use many players constantly and not rotate them, which inevitably leads to muscular problems.
“If we are fortunate and capable enough to maintain this squad, we know that playing in the Champions League we’ll have to increase the squad and bring in more options, then if we can avoid too many injuries, Lazio can really trouble anyone.”