Lazio Coach Stefano Pioli assures his side are ‘definitely’ ready for tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
The Biancocelesti will face the German side in the play-off round first leg at Olimpico tomorrow, and the tactician is confident his side is well-prepared.
“Are we ready? Definitely, yes,” Pioli said in his pre-match Press conference.
“We’ve improved our physical condition, even though we weren’t rewarded with results in pre-season.
Lazio Coach Stefano Pioli assures his side are ‘definitely’ ready for tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
The Biancocelesti will face the German side in the play-off round first leg at Olimpico tomorrow, and the tactician is confident his side is well-prepared.
“Are we ready? Definitely, yes,” Pioli said in his pre-match Press conference.
“We’ve improved our physical condition, even though we weren’t rewarded with results in pre-season.
“We’ve been doing continous work for the last two weeks, we’re ready for this test, and to overcome it.
“We have to play with a spirit and pride worthy of Lazio. We’re facing a team like ourselves in terms of their characteristics and mentality.
“They’re very competitive, they participated in the Champions League last season, and were eliminated by Atletico Madrid.
“They’re a team to fear, but my team is ready to match such a solid outfit.
“We know tomorrow is only the first half, but we want to give ourselves an advantage.
“It will be a very even game, they’re solid and compact, and finished fourth in Germany last season. Neither team has changed very much. It’s a game between two sides who play a similar style of football.
“With all due respect for our opponents, we have to play with the Lazio way, and with our ideas. We want to attack, attack, attack while keeping the right balance, because it’s only the first leg.”
The Aquile have focused on youth in the transfer market, failing to bring in any big names, but Pioli insists that was always the plan
“We’ve made very few changes, because we didn’t want to change much. We’re at the beginning of our journey, last year we were talking about Lazio-Bassano, now we’re talking about the Champions League.
“We wanted to give some consistency to a team with important attributes, and we’ve brought in some young players who we think can bring us satisfaction.”