Giovanni Martusciello reveals he took on the caretaker role at Lazio ‘in agreement’ with Maurizio Sarri, but ‘it wasn’t easy’ focusing on the Frosinone match.
It kicks off at the Stadio Benito Stirpe at 19.45 GMT.
The last few days have been very tough for the Aquile, who crashed out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich, lost at home to Udinese and saw coach Sarri tend his resignation on Tuesday afternoon.
His assistant manager Martusciello takes over for this match only, but will be replaced by Igor Tudor from Tuesday.
“The last few days have been complicated, but we are focused on getting through this rather unusual moment. We must try to improve what we are doing badly,” Martusciello told Sky Sport Italia.
“With everything that happened during the week, I tried to avoid the team thinking about it and asked them to focus only on the pitch. It wasn’t easy, naturally.”
Initially, only Sarri had resigned, but then all of his staff other than Martusciello also quit. So why did he decide to stay on for the Frosinone match?
“This is a question that it is fair for me to clarify. I go forward with head held high. I am under contract with Lazio, and seeing as on Tuesday Lazio were orphaned of a coach and had little time to find a replacement, I was asked to step in.
“I have a contract with Lazio and that includes certain responsibilities. So, in agreement with the coach, I decided to do this.”
There was going to be a natural pause anyway after this with the break for international duty.
Ivan Provedel is out with a sprained ankle, but he still insisted on coming along and was spotted hobbling into the stadium on crutches.