Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini accompanied his boss Massimiliano Allegri in the press conference ahead of the Italian Cup finalissima between the bianconeri and Lazio Real Madrid, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome
Hours after landing in Rome the Juventus boss and his rocky defender Giorgio Chiellini held the ritualistic press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Coppa Italia final where the Serie A champions elect will visit Lazio (20:45 CET). Here is what Chiellini said, as reported by TuttoJuve.com:
Which Barcelona forwards to you fear the most?
“It’s truly hard to say. In this moment, with all due respect, we’re all thinking about tomorrow night, at Lazio’s forwards and to the trouble they may cause. We have a lot of time to think about Barcelona. Ever since we advanced to the final everyone asks me about Suarez. There’s no problem, I don’t need him to contact me, I have no rancour. I’ll mark him like I marked Benzema, I’ll mark Messi like I did Ronaldo, and Neymar like Bale. There’s nothing different other than the fact took place, he was expelled, they won, I lost. The only thing that truly bothered me was to be eliminated”.
Don’t you run the risk of becoming bored of your superiority over your league competition? The gap is destined to widen…
“I will never get bored of something so beautiful. We’ve won in Italy for four consecutive years, but for the preceding 6 years we won nothing. Rest assured that there is nothing easy about it”.
Is Felipe Anderson more like Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo?
“Felipe Anderson is his own player. There’s no need to compare him to Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo because he has grown exponentially and showed some incredible skill. I hope that tomorrow he won’t be on his best game, perhaps he could be a little tired because he’s very fast and is able to couple his speed with incredible skill in passing and shooting. In many ways he’s the most emblematic player for Lazio this season who allowed them to leap into a Champions League spot and play this final tomorrow”.
Is Juventus’ work thus far a symptom that Italian football is improving?
“There are positive signs that it is improving. It’s too bad that Napoli and Fiorentina weren’t able to advance to the final because it would have been great to fight for both cups. The job of the Italian football movement is to try to continue this trend. I am convinced that from next year we can leap ahead of the fourth spot in the UEFA ranking for national club leagues that would allow us to regain a spot in the Champions League”.
How much do you believe in the triplete?
“I believe that our strength is to be able to think step-by-step. To never be overtaken by our dreams and to look too far ahead. We have gained access to these finals one game at a time, therefore we’ll think about the next game first. Let’s hope to win; we’ll do everything to win it, then we’ll have a lot of time to prepare the Champions League final against Barcelona”.
Is this a special final?
“It’s a special final because it’s been too long since Juventus won this cup last. I’ve been at Juventus for 10 years and I’ve played only one final. And we’re still not over the fact that we lost it. We have spent a considerable amount of energy in order to gain access to this final so now we will try to bring it home. Our focus is solely on the cup”.
You played with Juventus in Serie B. What does the Champions League mean for you?
“I’m proud to have arrived at this point especially after everything I experienced at Juventus. We were talking about thins with Buffon and Marchisio, and we’ve lived through many moments together. Now we’re enjoying this moment. Playing this cup gives us an extra stimulus”.
How does your indominable thirst for victory come about?
“It’s alive in our environment, in our group of players. It’s something that is further created once you win. Until you win you don’t understand the satisfaction. We were good at motivating one another this year, and to never sit on our laurels”.
The post Chiellini focused on winning the Coppa Italia appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
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