Maurizio Sarri was calm following Lazio’s 2-0 win over Empoli, underlining his happiness with his players after they secured a second place finish in Serie A.
The onus was on the Biancocelesti to find victory in Tuscany after Inter’s 1-0 win over Torino and the team did not disappoint, with goals from Alessio Romagnoli and Luis Alberto securing all three points for the away side.
Lazio’s win guaranteed their second place finish in the league, their highest finish since they won the Scudetto back in the 1999-2000 campaign. Now, the only doubts for the club relate to the future of Sarri, who could possibly leave in the coming weeks.
Speaking in a press conference (via La Lazio Siamo Noi), Sarri first discussed what’s next after Lazio secured a second place finish.
The only worry I have is to go home, because tomorrow I want to go to my mother’s for lunch. Then I’ll have a meeting with the president and we’ll see what needs to be done.
He was asked if he expected the team to finish so high in the table.
I didn’t expect second place, the goal was to get back into the Champions League. I want to praise this team, because seeing the last training session of the year played as they did yesterday had never happened to me.
I told the boys that we have many limitations, but we deserve this second place.
The 64-year-old Italian coach was also asked if he’d met with president Claudio Lotito recently.
The president was very focused and eager to get to this second place and during the week I only thought about this game. The important thing was to win this game, then we’ll talk to each other.
Sarri spoke about the difficulty and reward of securing a second place finish with Lazio.
In my opinion it was more difficult to finish second with Lazio, than to win the Europa League with Chelsea. The experience in which I did not win, but which went smoothly was Napoli.
There the path was easier, extraordinary things were done. The path here has been long, hopefully it is not over and we can do more.
He touched on which areas on the pitch need work in the upcoming summer transfer window.
It’s not easy to say if you don’t know the future of some players. For sure we need to go and get strikers, with the ones we have you can’t play three competitions.
On the defensive line we have some changes, but games are won up front. I think we need strikers both in the centre and out wide.
He gave his thoughts on Paolo Zanetti’s Empoli.
They are lively, sparkling. I followed them often, when I can I watch them. They seemed alive to me, the last period exceptional.
Before today they came from 11 points in five games, against teams that have only lost to them. They performed the usual miracle of Corsi, who never makes mistakes with coaches.
Finally, Sarri was asked about the things that he didn’t like this season at Lazio.
This season for me has been difficult. And that’s enough. I’ll tell the president the reason why. I’m happy at Lazio, I like the Lazio way of life, so a minimum of basis is enough to move forward and I’m more than happy to stay.
The last two games we played in an extraordinary atmosphere, the last one at home with over 63,000 spectators. We just needed to wake them up, they are coming back out for what they are.