Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi discussed the Biancocelesti’s vital 3-1 Champions League win over Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg yesterday in an interview with Italian broadcaster Lazio Style Channel after the game.
The main thing is to have fun, if you don’t have fun having goals you can’t play at certain levels. We had our heads clear, we always keep our feet on the ground and that’s what we showed today on the field. They had to win but we started well.
They have strong players like Dzyuba and Malcom, then it’s an experienced team with many years of experience in the Champions League. It is normal that at these levels the first mistake is paid for, but we were superior, there is little to do.
Acerbi also touched on how important the win was for the Roman club and Italian midfielder Marco Parolo’s first goal in the Champions League.
We remained compact, we played our game, we knew that there were many attackers but we wanted to win and bring home the three points even if we could score more goals.
I wanted to congratulate Marco for his first goal in the Champions League, he is a young man to be admired, he arrived with a big stick tonight! But he deserved it.
The 32-year-old Acerbi, who is contracted to the Biancocelesti until 2023, has made 12 appearances across all competitions so far this season, for a total of 1080 minutes.
In that time, he has provided two assists and helped the side keep two clean sheets.
Lazio’s win means that they are now second in their Champions League group after four games, sitting on eight points.
The Roman club are one point behind group leaders Borussia Dortmund, who they’ll face next week. As long as Lazio match or better Club Brugge’s result against Zenit next week, they’ll qualify for the next round of the competition.
Simone Inzaghi’s squad will face strugglers Udinese this weekend, an important game to carry forward the strong momentum. Lazio are currently 8th in the league with 14 points.
