Dejan Stankovic is proud of Sampdoria’s performance against Lazio and will not ‘raise the white flag’ of surrender to relegation.
The Blucerchiati had several good chances to win it at the Stadio Olimpico this evening, testing Ivan Provedel with Manolo Gabbiadini and Sam Lammers, but were eventually beaten by a stunning Luis Alberto strike from outside the box into the top corner.
“I am disappointed by the result, but not by the way my lads played,” Stankovic told Sky Sport Italia.
“Unfortunately, this is football, we played against a strong team that has different objectives to us. Lazio have one of the best defensive records, you cannot have seven or eight chances against them and expect to get a result.”
When he was asked if perhaps Sampdoria could do with more strikers, as they scored only 11 goals in 24 games, he defended his squad.
“I play with the lads I have and I am happy with them. Jese can help once he rediscovers his fitness. Tonight we had two strikers, Gabbiadini and Lammers, but one of the main problems is we’ve lost so many points in the final 10-15 minutes.”
The Blucerchiati are increasingly heading towards relegation with just 11 points from 24 rounds, and could even drop to bottom spot if Cremonese beat Roma tomorrow.
“Until it is mathematically certain, I will not even think about raising the white flag. My lads are giving their all, unfortunately it is not enough, but we are playing for an important club and must always leave the field with our heads held high.”
This was also an emotional return to Rome and the Stadio Olimpico, where he was teammates with Sinisa Mihajlovic for Lazio, and Stankovic confirmed he had spent time with the family during this trip.
“I went to say hello to him today. It’s all still so raw. I pray for Arianna and their wonderful kids, I visited them too. I pray God can give them the strength to keep going with memories of Sinisa.
“We had several years here together, we could’ve won more, but it is always a pleasure to return here.”