Maurizio Sarri believes Lazio could’ve forced FC Porto to extra time if they had equalised a little earlier, but is at least glad now they’re out of the Europa League, ‘we can train properly.’
Just like the first leg, the Biancocelesti had taken the lead, this time through Ciro Immobile, but were overturned to trail 2-1.
Danilo Cataldi eventually made it 2-2 in stoppages, but they were eliminated 4-3 on aggregate.
Europa League | Lazio 2-2 Porto (3-4 agg): Aquile capitulate to Conceicao
“We played a good game, but leave with a bitter taste in our mouths,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We had a real wobble for 10 minutes after conceding the first goal, but if we’d managed to get the equaliser for 2-2 earlier, I am convinced we would’ve scored again and taken it to extra time.
“Porto reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season, we knew they were a great team. We take the positive performance and finally now we’ll be able to train properly during the week.”
The coach has never disguised his irritation with the Europa League, considering it a drain on resources and the scheduling deeply damaging to his work in training.
He said last week that if not for the Europa League, Lazio would already be competing for the top four in Serie A.
“We struggled to be competitive on three fronts, because playing every three days with new injuries every week, it was tricky. However, I finally get the feeling this is a team now, and that is an important step forward.
“Now we hope to recharge the batteries in time for the next match, even if we feel very tired right now.”
This move from from Porto was slick… ✨
The assist from Mehdi Taremi 🤤#UEL pic.twitter.com/7SmIfi3zjf
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 24, 2022
Yes, they can train properly to qualify for next season’s EL, then get knocked out again and train properly again.
Makes sense.
Lazio need less quantity and more quality. Far too many average players in their bloated roster.
@FERBAN Lazio needs some key quality transfers and we will be top, but Tare is terrible sporting director, with terrible transfer strategies. Don’t forget, we don’t have the badget of european giants but we can be competitive against everybody! We are out with our heads up high and we can focuse now on serie a and see where we will finish! The football we play is entertaining also! We just miss squad depth…
Imagine if we could defend, we’ve been terrible at the back this season
Far too many average foreign players in their squad still they cant win nothing. italian team are jokes.
Far too many average foreign players in their squad still they cant win nothing. italian teams are jokes.
Far too many average foreign players in their squad still they cant win nothing. italian teams are jokes.
They wanted out – by the sound of Sarri’s comments.
Italian teams dropping like flies from European competition. Milan( Last in UCL group), Inter will get KOed by Liverpool, Juve may squeeze past Villareal, Lazio and Napoli are out of Europa League, Roma are already out of Conference league too. Italian club football is in need of a revival