Giovanni Martusciello gives more background as to why Maurizio Sarri resigned from Lazio. ‘He did it to get this reaction’ and denies the squad ‘betrayed’ their coach.
The Aquile were in crisis after four consecutive defeats, leading to the sudden resignation of coach Sarri on Tuesday afternoon.
With Igor Tudor waiting in the wings to take over next week and the rest of Sarri’s staff quitting, Martusciello took the caretaker role at the Stadio Stirpe for a 3-2 win away to Frosinone.
At the final whistle, the squad ran to the bench to hug Martusciello, the only remaining member of Sarri’s staff.
“When you win, and especially the way we went into this game, there is a sense of a weight off their shoulders. These lads do not lose games on purpose. They had difficulties in a complicated club to work in, they showed the emotional response today by misplacing easy passes,” Martusciello told Sky Sport Italia.
“They were happy to have won a game, it was such a tough build-up that they felt relieved at winning.”
Taty Castellanos proved decisive, coming off the bench to score twice after Mattia Zaccagni had cancelled out the Pol Lirola opener.
Walid Cheddira’s overhead kick made it a tense finale, along with several big misses on the counter-attack.
Inevitably, the questions were all about Sarri and his decision to hand in his resignation on Tuesday, just months after securing second place in Serie A.
“What changed is that it’s a different season. We didn’t have the same energy going into this campaign. Plus over the course of time, certain things shift the balance. The Champions League was the biggest event to change the balance, as being able to start strong in that competition and maintain that intensity in Serie A as well was tough.
“Last season, when we went out of the Europa League was the moment that allowed us to surge in Serie A and achieve second place.”
It has always been said that working in the Roman clubs, both Lazio and Roma, is tougher than anywhere else in Italy because of the intense pressure and power of the fanbase.
“Here in Rome, it is not like working in Milano. Everyone is watching and wanting to keep going higher. When you cannot confirm the good that you did the year before, it becomes more complicated. It is a wonderful thing to experience, playing at the Stadio Olimpico and winning the derby, but not all years are the same.
“We hope this team can manage to come together and get the fans dreaming again.”
President Claudio Lotito said that the squad had “betrayed” Sarri, so did Martusciello sense that too?
“No, absolutely not. I have been in football for many years. This squad, it’s impossible to think they could do such a thing. It is just not in the DNA of these lads. If the fans were to recognise that attitude, it’d be a disaster for them, but I can assure you these are great professionals, they give 100 per cent. Betrayal is too harsh a word, I never had that sensation over two years here.
“Sarri made this decision to get this performance out of them. He realised that he was no longer having an effect on them, so there were three options: one was resignation, one was being fired, the other was extending the contract by another two or three years.
“This is not at all usual for the coach. With extreme situations, he had to take extreme measures. He did it for the good of Lazio, I don’t know if he told the media that specifically, but he did not resign because he was afraid to be in charge of Lazio. He did it to get this reaction out of them.
“I will not deny that when he announced his resignation, he was emotional. He was the first to be upset. It’s sad, but we will find other paths.”
Martusciello was the caretaker manager for today, Igor Tudor is ready to take over, so what will he do next?
“From tomorrow I hope to go to Ischia, especially as I haven’t slept for four days! It was abundantly clear that my future was always going to be to move on, I only stayed here for this match because there wasn’t the time to find a new coach. That was the plan.”