Simone Inzaghi praised the ‘humility and collective sacrifice’ of the Lazio squad to beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Ciro Immobile scored one and created another for Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro, while Luiz Felipe’s header was deflected in during the 3-1 victory.
Simone Inzaghi praised the ‘humility and collective sacrifice’ of the Lazio squad to beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Ciro Immobile scored one and created another for Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro, while Luiz Felipe’s header was deflected in during the 3-1 victory.
“I loved the humility with which we faced a truly strong opponent, because from the midfield up they have extraordinary players with immense potential,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“We played a great game of collective sacrifice and then hurt them when we had the chances. We needed humility, to recover some of the players who were missing last week and unfortunately that’s been the situation a few times in recent years.”
It was a huge transformation for a side that lost 3-0 to Sampdoria on Saturday.
“At least we learned an important lesson from the defeat. Tucu Correa and Immobile worked so hard for the team and allowed us to keep our positions, so it was inevitable they’d be a little tired when finishing, as they were extraordinary and never stopped running.
“Luiz Felipe is a very important player for us and I started him in a Champions League debut against Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho, despite the fact he had just one real training session. He had this nasty ankle sprain in a pre-season friendly and was out for 37 days.
“Sergej Milinkovic-Savic requested a substitution, as he had a bruise on his hip. He was in pain and hopefully it’s just a knock.
“We’re missing many important players who could’ve taken part today, so I think when we get everyone back, we’ll be competitive in Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia.”
Club Brugge earned a last-gasp 2-1 victory away to Zenit, so they are currently top of the group with Lazio.
“It’s a very open group, Brugge won in Russia, but I still maintain Dortmund are the favourites to take the top spot.”
Inzaghi was asked about his rapport with President Claudio Lotito, the stalled contract renewal and rumours of interest in a different coach.
“I always speak to the President, there are no problems. I’ve had him as a President for the last 15 years, so I don’t know if other Presidents are different! He wants to know everything that’s going on and to keep well-informed, quite rightly, as he is the owner.”