Lazio play Juventus in the Coppa Italia quarter-final this evening as President Claudio Lotito explains the importance of Maurizio Sarri, a ‘Made in Italy’ project and raising the bar.
It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin at 20.00 GMT, with the winners going on to face Inter in a two-legged semi-final.
The other semi-final will be between Fiorentina and Cremonese.
Lotito spoke to Radiosei about his new experience as an elected Senator and his vision for the future of Lazio.
“You cannot buy results. It’s true that money can help increase the level of the squad, but football remains a team sport played on the field,” said the President.
“You must create that alchemy and cement the rapport between players, see them go out there with strong motivation. We’ve tended to drop points against the smaller clubs, so motivation really does make the difference.”
While many other sides have packed their teams with foreign investments, Lazio are one of those who regularly use the most Italians in the starting XI.
“We are trying to have a real Made in Italy project. It was a pity to see Italy miss out on the World Cup. Organisation is fundamental and at times a few bad apples can change the balance of a side. We are bringing in players with quality, but also moral character, to avoid problems.”
Lotito also hired coach Sarri, who will face his former club Juventus this evening, aiming to make another step up the ladder towards Champions League qualification.
“We wanted to start again with a new era. Sarri is a teacher of football, I made a real effort to bring in 15 players during one year, forging a side that has quality, is competitive and can achieve certain objectives.
“You don’t announce objectives, you achieve them. When Gianni Infantino visited the training ground at Formello, he was surprised to find the infrastructure was top level. Lazio are now a club where you arrive, not go elsewhere.”
As a Senator, Lotito worked to draft and then push through measures that allowed all Serie A sides to spread out the cost of their tax bills over several instalments.
“It was just common sense. All categories had help after the pandemic, for example cinema, but none for sport. Some wanted to step back from the promises they had made and all of Italian sport would’ve suffered catastrophically.”
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