Lazio star Lucas Leiva shares his thoughts on his former coaches Simone Inzaghi and Jurgen Klopp and praises his teammates Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic of midfielders.’
Inzaghi and Klopp meet at Anfield tonight in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16. Inter lost the first leg in Milan 2-0 three weeks ago.
“Inzaghi still young (45), but was even younger when I arrived at Lazio,” the Brazilian midfielder told The Athletic.
“He won a few titles. I didn’t know much about him. It was only his second season as a first-team coach. It was a very positive surprise when I started working with him. He’s a great manager,” he continued.
“For me, he was really important. I think he’s the coach I played the most games for. The last four years I played with him are probably one of the best times in my career because he gave me a lot of confidence, we were successful together and we won.
“He’s a very offensive manager. But like all Italians, he is very worried about tactics and how not to concede goals. It’s a good mix. Simone’s very young so he tends to attack a lot. His teams are always scoring a lot of goals but he has in his blood Italian defensive tactics. That’s why I think he has been successful and he’s progressing very well in his career.”
Leiva, 35, joined Lazio from Liverpool in 2017 after a ten-year spell with the Reds. He played 65 games under Klopp at Anfield.
“First of all, he’s a fantastic human being — a great man, very honest,” said the midfielder.
“I learned a lot in the two years I spent with him. I took a lot of the advice he gave me. As soon as he arrived at the club, we could feel, we could smell, things were changing and that the great moments of Liverpool would be back.
“When Jurgen arrived at the club, as I said, we felt things were changing. For myself, I felt the same. Probably my time at the club was coming to an end. I was playing a little less so sometimes I was frustrated. I remember speaking with him one day and he said: ‘Lucas, sometimes I cannot say what you want to hear, you know.’
“That’s the sentence I remember because sometimes it is hard to listen to something that you don’t want but it’s better because then it makes you improve and think about it. So that’s something I carry with me to this day and like I say it was great to work with him. Our relationship is still very good and that’s what matters in the end.”
Leiva has already played 188 games at Lazio and is one of the regular starters under Maurizio Sarri. His teammates Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ciro Immobile have been impressive so far this season and the 35-year-old praises them both.
The ex-Liverpool man called Milinkovic-Savic the “Zlatan Ibrahimovic of midfielders.
“To be honest when I first came I didn’t really know him,” he admitted.
“But he has everything a top player needs to have. He’s physically very strong. In the air he’s unmarkable. But with the ball, he’s fantastic as well. He can assist and score goals. He has a very good shot and he’s a player who is improving every year. He has all the qualities to play at the highest level. For sure, he is one of the best players I’ve played with.
“Immobile has been scoring a lot of goals for many seasons. For sure he’s on that list from 1 to 10 of the best strikers in the world or top five because every year he scores. Now he has 25 in all competitions this season.
“Maybe people don’t speak much about him, but here in Italy, he’s probably considered the best striker in the league. Ciro is a natural finisher. That’s how I describe him. It’s very rare he misses the target, very rare for the keeper to make a save. His numbers speak for themselves and how good he is. He’s our captain and a very important player for the club.”
Spoke to Lucas Leiva about his enduring love for #LFC, what it’s really like to play at Anfield on European nights, #Lazio and his memories playing under Simone Inzaghi https://t.co/EawZL9BQPn
— James Horncastle (@JamesHorncastle) March 8, 2022