Cerrone: “Can’t fault the lads today”

MILAN – Primavera coach Salvatore Cerrone analysed his side’s performance following their Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against Lazio.

Here’s what he had to say:

“First of all I’d like to congratulate Lazio. Looking at the two games, they deserved to go through to the final. Having said that though, we made life hard for ourselves in the first leg, but obviously we gave it a good go in both the first and second half today. We were always in the game. The Guerrieri save from Bonazzoli’s volley could have changed the match mind you. But at that stage it can seem like your whole world comes crashing down, and the lads felt that. I tried to change things up, in terms of our tactics, when we moved to a more attacking system.

“Once again the three guys who came on did very well, they responded as I wanted them to, they had the right attitude. I can’t fault my players in any way, shape or form today, and it wouldn’t make any sense to compare this match to the league games against Chievo and AC Milan. We need to obviously look back at the mistakes we made in the first leg – when they won 4-2 – to avoid making them again in the future, as those errors made life very difficult for us in the return leg.

“We made it through the last four, having started out in the Coppa Italia in August, and we had a good run, beating sides like AC Milan and Chievo. Now we’ll focus on Cittadella, it’s an important step for us, we must stay together. Now we need to see our team spirit come through, we need everyone, they all need to be ready. I’m very disappointed but let’s look forward, the season still has a long way to go.”