Fabrizio Ravanelli previews Lazio–Juventus, insisting the Biancocelesti must find their “motivation”.
Both sides had difficult starts to the season, but while the champions are on a four-match winning run, Stefano Pioli’s side did not win in the month of November.
“These are two teams who are equipped to get to the top,” Ravanelli, who played for both sides, explained to LaLazioSiamoNoi.
“They’ve both had problems, Juventus are starting to solve them, Lazio have had fluctuating performances.
Fabrizio Ravanelli previews Lazio-Juventus, insisting the Biancocelesti must find their “motivation”.
Both sides had difficult starts to the season, but while the champions are on a four-match winning run, Stefano Pioli’s side did not win in the month of November.
“These are two teams who are equipped to get to the top,” Ravanelli, who played for both sides, explained to LaLazioSiamoNoi.
“They’ve both had problems, Juventus are starting to solve them, Lazio have had fluctuating performances.
“The Biancocelesti have great players who can fight for the Champions League places, but they’ve yet to find their identity.
“It seems that there’s not the same unity and motivation, and that has affected this great Lazio squad. It’s not easy to find the reason.
“Lazio in Europe have that experience and determination which can give the squad enthusiasm and a higher level of character. They find the motivation to reach the goals which have been set.
“There are a lot of games to play in the League, and they can recover, but the squad isn’t finding that consistency and character to achieve important results.”
It has been suggested that a defeat in this match could spell the end for Aquile Coach Pioli, does Ravenelli think that’s the case?
“I hope not, Pioli is a great Coach. You can’t put all the blame on him. Pioli is finding it hard, but there’s still time to work.
“He’s a great Coach and great connoisseur of football. Lazio gave great performances last season, they achieved important objectives with him on the bench.”
Finally, the former striker offered advice to Lazio, believing that they shouldn’t try to sit-in against Juventus.
“Lazio will have to employ great pressing, great intensity and great motivation,” Ravanelli predicted.
“I don’t think Lazio can wait for Juve, they’ll have to attack them. They’ll have to press well and smother the Bianconeri with their intensity.
“Only in that way can they challenge a great team. Little details will shift the balance in such an important match.
“It’ll be the team that first takes the lead that wins the match.
“The suspension of Paul Pogba? Of course it matters a lot, he’s a player who can change the balance of a match.
“He’s a big loss for Juventus, but the Bianconeri have others who can do well. We must also see if some injured players will recover.
“They’ll always be a team who rise to the occasion.”