Stefano Pioli says Lazio face four cup finals over the coming weeks ‘three in the League and one in the Coppa’.

The Aquile will contest the Coppa Italia final with Juventus on Wednesday, before Champions League showdowns with Roma and Napoli.

Before that, however, Pioli’s men must negotiate a way past Sampdoria, who have European ambitions of their own.

“The next fifteen days will be decisive,” Pioli admitted in his pre-match Press conference.

Stefano Pioli says Lazio face four cup finals over the coming weeks ‘three in the League and one in the Coppa’.

The Aquile will contest the Coppa Italia final with Juventus on Wednesday, before Champions League showdowns with Roma and Napoli.

Before that, however, Pioli’s men must negotiate a way past Sampdoria, who have European ambitions of their own.

“The next fifteen days will be decisive,” Pioli admitted in his pre-match Press conference.

“We’re getting to the crunch, no game is more important than any other. We’ll have three cup finals, three in the League, one in the Coppa.

“We’ve worked for 10 months, we’ve created a style and spirit, and we have to work from that. We’ve worked meticulously, and we’re where we dreamed we could be.

“The players and I are satisfied and happy to have reached this point. We’ll face the rest of the season with great enthusiasm.

“I don’t like it when the word ‘courage’ is associated with football, but I think in this case it’s appropriate.

“We’ll only be satisfied if on May 31 we’ve done our best and achieved the maximum. These last four games will decide whether we’ve had a good season.”

“The game tomorrow night is fundamental, four days is enough time to recover our energies for the Coppa. I’ll assess the situation tomorrow to pick the best team for tomorrow night.

“Samp are having a great season, they’re aggressive, they’re like us in terms of the way they play.”

Pioli also confirmed that Dutch defender Stefan De Vrij would be available, but is not certain whether he will play.

“The only thing I can say for certain is that [Lucas] Biglia won’t play. [Senad] Lulic, [Stefan] De Vrij and [Danilo] Cataldi have trained and will be called-up.

“For De Vrij, we’ll make our assessments over the three games. It might be difficult for a player who hasn’t been training much to play three games in a week.

“He’s available to play, he could feature from the beginning, as the game goes on, or not at all. He’s trained though, so I’m confident for the next few games.”

If the Biancolcelesti ultimately fail to make the Champions League, would this season be considered a failure?

“We’re thinking about the game tomorrow,” Pioli replied.

“Then we’ll think about the Coppa, and the derby [with Roma] after that. I’m used to making final judgements, not partial ones.”

Bygaby

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