Maurizio Sarri said his Lazio side were lacking in brilliance and confidence in their 3-1 defeat to Atalanta. The Biancocelesti went behind to Mario Pasalic’s splendid goal and Charles De Ketelaere’s inspired brace, while Immobile’s penalty at the 84th minute came too late to reignite the hopes of the Biancocelesti. Sarri shared his thoughts in a post-match interview with DAZN:
Performance Analysis: Sarri opened with a comment on the performance: “What happened? We encountered Atalanta, a team currently in excellent physical and mental condition. They are challenging to face due to their technique, physicality, and attitude. In the first half, we struggled to break through, faced significant challenges. We improved in the second half, even had opportunities to score three or four times. However, overall, they deserved the win.”
Impact of the Defeat on Champions League Aspirations: Regarding the weight of this defeat in the context of the Champions League, Sarri stated, “The season is long, and these results have their significance. If Atalanta continues this form for another three months, they deserve it. Atalanta needs to be in excellent physical and mental condition to play their style of football.”
Lack of Brilliance and Confidence: Sarri then assessed Lazio’s current situation, saying, “I didn’t see brilliance and great confidence today. I saw a team facing tremendous difficulty in breaking free from the opponents’ pressure. When you face Atalanta and can’t break free, they put you in trouble. If you manage to break free, you find enormous spaces to create difficulties. At least for 60 minutes, this step was missing for us. We found it in the last half-hour, and it’s a pity not to have made it 3-2 because it would have put us on par in direct clashes.”
On the “Lack of Engine”: Addressing the “lack of engine,” Sarri emphasized that it’s not just a physical matter: “When I talk about engine capacity, I’m not only referring to the physical aspect. Physicality is crucial – having impactful teams with strong acceleration is important. Still, we also talk about technical and mental capacity, which is equally, if not more, important. Sometimes, we lacked in one of these three aspects, not so much in terms of numbers in the physical aspect, as we are leading in almost all categories of high intensity and distances covered. However, you see teams that move less often than us but with different accelerations.”
Silence on Transfer Market Decisions: Finally, Sarri opted not to comment on the club’s decision not to acquire new players in the just-concluded transfer window: “I don’t concern myself with the market; it’s not my task, so I adapt. I believe I should focus on the team without talking much about the market.”
