Claudio Ranieri admits several Sampdoria players ‘need longer to recover than they did before’, as the team with the most COVID-19 cases.
Samp restart their Serie A campaign with games against Inter and Roma, and Ranieri hopes they serve as a wake-up call for his players after three months of no football.
“Let’s say that these two games will wake us up right away,” he told Il Secolo XIX.
“Until now, we’ve only trained amongst ourselves and we don’t know where we are exactly.
Claudio Ranieri admits several Sampdoria players ‘need longer to recover than they did before’, as the team with the most COVID-19 cases.
Samp restart their Serie A campaign with games against Inter and Roma, and Ranieri hopes they serve as a wake-up call for his players after three months of no football.
“Let’s say that these two games will wake us up right away,” he told Il Secolo XIX.
“Until now, we’ve only trained amongst ourselves and we don’t know where we are exactly.
“We’ll only find out [where we are] by facing opponents. A slice of the season with unknown contours and distortions awaits us, given what happened.
“There are huge interests at stake so we have to finish it. The fans understand and so does everyone else, so let’s finish it.”
Clashes with Bologna, Lecce and SPAL, three of the Blucerchiati’s rivals down the bottom, come straight after…
“These are games will let us understand, first of all, how the team will react because we don’t know yet,” explained the coach, whose side are 16th, one point above the relegation zone.
“We’re the team with the most players affected by coronavirus, but I’ve always maintained that it’s important for us to stay up. It’s our No 1 objective.
“Our DNA is in Serie A. Staying there is crucial.”
The Ligurians have been the Serie A team hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, to the extent they had to stop naming individual cases, as was the sheer number of them.
“Some need longer to recover than they did before. The players affected may suffer in a game situation. We don’t know how well [the virus] affects the heart or lungs.
“Everyone’s passed the tests, as required by the protocol, but of course some have yet to resume certain types of training to help them cope better.
“It’ll affect my choices, especially at the start. On top of that, I can’t always pick the same players every three days, so I have to consider this too.”