Tribal Football

Baroni hails Lazio players and fans after victory over Porto

Carlos Volcano
Baroni hails Lazio players and fans after victory over Porto
Baroni hails Lazio players and fans after victory over PortoAction Plus
Lazio coach Marco Baroni hailed his players' spirit after their 2-1 Europa League win against Porto.

Porto drew level through Stephen Eustaquio to cancel out Alessio Romagnoli's opener before Pedro's late winner for Lazio.

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Afterwards, Baroni admits he was happy with his players and for the home support.

 

How much did you like the reaction after conceding the goal?

"I have to compliment the team again, when games like this come along it matters a lot how you get there and the path you've taken. Today I asked for a game of personality and joy, we needed this and believe me we played against a great opponent, who has quality and verticality, they are always sharp in going vertical. Compliments to the boys and the environment, at the end there was a beautiful atmosphere."

 

Lazio had never scored so many goals in the last fifteen minutes. This Lazio never dies?

"It always believes, we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to the people. You have to play to win matches, I know very well that difficult moments will come but if you have created a strong identity you overcome these difficulties. I read that since 2018 City had not lost three consecutive matches, it happens to big teams but it depends on the mentality you create. I would hardly insert a defender to bring home a result, I would not be consistent with the proposal we present in training and I would not be credible."

 

How are you experiencing these five months in the Lazio world? What notes do you take during the conferences?

"I write something to myself between the first and second half, then I talk to the collaborators and we try to see the things that aren't working to understand how to improve. I wrote to myself because Nuno was there, who is a very sensitive guy, I also listen to the conferences because communication is part of our job, both with journalists and with the team. I am in this adventure with everything, it's part of my character.

"I had the best chance of my life, I slept in Formello for two months, I recently moved into a house but I often stay in Formello. I want to give my all, when I said that this team doesn't let me sleep at night because it stimulates me, then I sleep little but I sleep. I see the participation that I asked for, the proposal that we presented from day one talking about the football we wanted to play, the team believes in it and we have to go strong."

 

Do you see the boys in the locker room with a different look after a victory against an opponent like that? How are Castrovilli and Patric?

"There's a statement about Castro, we'll lose him for a few weeks. I think Patric has an inflammation but I'm very confident about his presence in Monza. When I returned to the locker room, the first thing I said to the staff, which for me is the second team, is that we have to work because we have little time to recover everyone, we have to recover from the fatigue and work on recovery. The coach works hard and rejoices little, we're at the sixth game in nineteen days, I have little time but I'm happy to see the boys rejoice.

"I let them do it because they are professionals, they know how to behave and know how to manage themselves. I talk a lot about balance because bringing balance to the locker room is my responsibility. I'm happy to see these results, but I have to refocus the team. We didn't have to wait for this match to understand that we are a great team, the first twenty minutes in Turin against Juve were those of a great team. Then with the expulsion everything changed, but I'm convinced that with the same number of players it would have been a different match and even in the difficulties we were very good in the match."

 

Were you angry with the timing of the substitutions? With the 4-3-3 the team finds balance again?

"We work for the 4-2-3-1 but as I have always told you the framework with the double winger and the striker will never be touched. We can work with a high vertex or a low vertex. On the substitutions yes I got p***ed off, they are moments that make the difference. Tchaouna played a great match but they caught us a couple of times there on the left, unfortunately I can't call a timeout and I had to wait to make the substitutions. Surely after the substitution and the entry of Rovella he gave us balance, the resources had also dropped and for this reason the substitutions were needed."