Maurizio Sarri confirms he kept squad rotation to a minimum in the Coppa Italia against Bologna to ‘send a message’ to his players and is ‘worried’ Milan will be out for revenge this weekend.
The Biancocelesti broke through in the first half when Pedro robbed defender Joaquin Sosa to lay it off on a plate for Felipe Anderson’s tap-in.
That proved to be enough to get the result and set up a quarter-final against either Juventus or Monza.
“We were up against a dangerous Bologna side that picked up nine points in the last five rounds and are difficult to play against, so we did well,” Sarri told Lazio Style Channel.
With Ciro Immobile out injured, Felipe Anderson had to make do as the False 9, which he’ll probably need to do again with Milan at the weekend in Serie A.
“Without a centre-forward, it was not easy in the first half-hour, but we created four or five scoring opportunities and it was a good performance.
“I kept squad rotation to a minimum because these are very dangerous games in terms of approach and I wanted to send a message to the team. This is an important tournament, we needed important players.”
That included Luis Alberto, who has gone from potentially being sold in January to a key player in Sarri’s 4-3-3 formation.
“He is becoming a total player and is lacking for nothing at the moment.”
Lazio will face Milan in Serie A this weekend and Sarri is concerned that the Rossoneri will be out for revenge after their 3-0 Supercoppa Italiana defeat to Inter last night.
“I am worried, because Milan are a strong side, they have been slapped three times and will have a strong reaction. I would’ve been happier if they’d won the Supercoppa 3-0.”