Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu believes Italian teams “are too focused on Serie A and snub European competition.”

Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu believes Italian teams “are too focused on Serie A and snub European competition.”

The Serie A teams have struggled again this week on the continent, earning one win, two draws and three defeats.

“It is a difficult moment for them, as they are too focused on Serie A and snub European competition,” said ex-Brescia boss Lucescu.

“They mustn’t forget that the image of Italian football abroad is made by what they do in the Champions and Europa League.”

The Shakhtar Coach took Napoli’s 3-1 defeat to Dnipro as the perfect example, as Edinson Cavani and Goran Pandev only came on for the final half-hour.

“There is too much attention paid to the Scudetto race. I saw Napoli play Dnipro and they cannot think of competing in the Europa League without using their most important players.”

Lazio Coach Vladimir Petkovic confessed to taking the same approach to their 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos.

“It’s true we were trying to win without pushing ourselves 100 per cent.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector