Stefano Pioli says his Lazio team must ‘play to win’ in the second leg against Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow.
The Biancocelesti hold a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of the Champions League play-off in Roma last week, but the Coach will not be playing for a draw in Germany.
“They’re a good team,” Pioli said in his pre-match Press conference.
“They play a very intense and direct style of football. They confirmed those features by deservedly beating Hannover [1-0 on Saturday] and they could have scored more.
Stefano Pioli says his Lazio team must ‘play to win’ in the second leg against Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow.
The Biancocelesti hold a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of the Champions League play-off in Roma last week, but the Coach will not be playing for a draw in Germany.
“They’re a good team,” Pioli said in his pre-match Press conference.
“They play a very intense and direct style of football. They confirmed those features by deservedly beating Hannover [1-0 on Saturday] and they could have scored more.
“Even in Rome they showed they were that kind of team. But, at the same time, if we’re here it’s because we’ve played in a certain way and deserve to be here.
“This is only half-time, and we’re aware that we haven’t won anything yet.
“Just like in the first leg, we’ll have to be very careful, playing the way we know how and trying to compete for the 50-50 balls.
“We know it will be a hard game and we’ll have to fight for every ball.
“We’ll try to play our own game, attacking when we get the chance and trying to keep our opponents away from our box, as they have talent on set pieces.
“We have to play on the front foot to cause them problems, because we have fast players who are good one-on-one. We have to play to win.”
The Aquile will be without their main striker in Miroslav Klose, but Pioli is confident that other members of the squad can step up.
“Unfortunately he won’t be on the pitch, but we have other players with different characteristics who will be trying to do their best in tomorrow’s game.
“Ricardo Kishna? He definitely had a good game [against Bologna], with quality and good characteristics.
“He’ll certainly be useful for the team. He’s a young player who is still to grow and find consistency and continuity in his performance.”