Sarri angry at Lazio after Provedel injury: ‘Totally against sale of Mandas’
Maurizio Sarri hit out at Lazio President Claudio Lotito after losing Ivan Provedel for the season and being forced to debut Edoardo Motta against Sassuolo. ‘I was totally against the sale of Christos Mandas.’
It kicks off at the Stadio Olimpico at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.
The Biancocelesti have been showing very different form in Serie A compared to the Coppa Italia, as they scraped one point from three league games, yet played a spectacular 2-2 semi-final first leg draw with Atalanta last Wednesday.
“We have such incredible differences in our statistics from Sunday to Wednesday, they are genuinely hard to explain,” shrugged the coach on Sky Sport Italia.
“It is all about the different attitude that the team had in those two games. It is a mistake to do that, we should always have great motivation, and I hope to see the version of Lazio tonight that we got on Wednesday.”
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The injury crisis has dragged on throughout the campaign, but hit a new low when goalkeeper Provedel was ruled out for the rest of the season by shoulder surgery on a tendon tear.
It means Sarri has to give 21-year-old Motta his Serie A debut, having arrived in January from Reggina.
“It is certainly a major absence. I was totally against the decision to sell Mandas. Now we have a young lad with some qualities, we’ll see what he does on the field,” replied the coach.
He sent that message to President Lotito, who had loaned second-choice goalkeeper Mandas to Bournemouth in January for €1.5m with an option to buy for a further €18.5m.
However, Mandas made just one appearance this season for Lazio, in the Coppa Italia, and is yet to make his Bournemouth debut either.
Not many expected at the start of the season that in Week 28 this would be a mid-table tussle, with newly-promoted Sassuolo ahead and pushing for eighth place with a victory here.
Even if the Aquile win this evening, they won’t be able to close the gap completely and catch the Neroverdi in the table.
“I was more or less expecting Sassuolo to do this well, as they are a strong team, well-organised and had a clear identity from the start,” said Sarri.
The mood has not been helped by the ongoing boycott of the home matches, as ultras have been abandoning the Stadio Olimpico for the last four games in protest at President Lotito.
“It’s depressing, horrible, and it’s time the club does something about this,” added Sarri on DAZN Italia.