Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri blames Europa League for the Biancocelesti’s poor results in Serie A and reveals the club’s target for the future.
Lazio have collected 26 points so far this season and have qualified for the Europa League knockout round playoff.
“Europa League is killing us, but it’s our fault,” Sarri said at a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match with Genoa.
“Our performances drop after games in Europe. The team cannot cope with so many games. That’s our current limit. The top team somehow manages to pick up a 0-0 draw or win 1-0, but we are exhausted when we get to the game.”
Lotito announced the coach’s contract extension two days ago. What’s the team’s target?
“We want to build a young team that can grow with time. We don’t know where we can get, but that’s we believe that’s the easiest path.
“I think it’s similar to what happened in Naples, with the coach at the centre of the project. That’s why I’ve always said that I like to stay here.
“However, Lazio have only qualified for the Champions League when Inter and Milan were not competitive, now the situation is more complicated.”
Lazio will face Genoa and Venezia before the end of the year. What does Sarri expect?
“We need to be determined. I’ve never seen a good performance from a team without determination. That’s where we need to start from.
“We lost games because we didn’t play, we need to correct our defects and improve.”
Will Mattia Zaccagni, Luis Alberto and Pedro be available?
“I hope so. Yesterday they trained with the team,” Sarri said.