The blue coach grew up professionally in the Tuscan city: “I started from there, he represents a model of how football should be played. In all subsequent experiences I brought that baggage with me”
From Empoli to Empoli, Luciano Spalletti returns to what was his home for seven years, first as a player and then as a coach: “I started from there and I’m very grateful to Empoli who truly represent a model of how football should be played – explained the Napoli coach on the eve of the match -. I had an advantage to work in that club and enjoy that setting, as well as having been an Empoli fan for twenty years. In all subsequent experiences I brought with me that baggage and from time to time I found strong players who allowed me to grow in level and get here”.
STOP AND GO
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In Empoli exactly ten months ago Napoli said goodbye to their dreams of the Scudetto, the 3-2 draw on 24 April is still alive in Spalletti’s memories: “That match destroyed our whole year’s work, we suffered a lot from that knockout but we got up quickly. We made some important steps forward compared to then. This year, the reading of matches of that type has improved, but this will be a complicated match because Empoli are a compact team who know how to feel good on the pitch and it has very strong players like Vicario, Parisi, Baldanzi who we will find in even more important teams next year”. The recipe, therefore, is that of the tire fitter or the blacksmith… you name it: “Without inner tubes, full tires and off we go because it’s a difficult game – said Spalletti – because presumption would be the end of growth. We’ll have to be good at having the importance of the match clearly in mind without considering other things, such as when you have blacksmith glasses and you can’t see anything from the side: head down and focused on the goal”.
PASTRY AND TURNOVER
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Therefore, it is forbidden to celebrate prematurely as someone in the city is thinking of doing: “We have to think about what there is to do, here we buy pastries and sparkling wines only if it is someone’s birthday. We want to win to give ours as much satisfaction as possible city because we perceive its love every day”. To achieve this, Spalletti is relying on a consolidated group of owners around which he then rotates some interpreters of his eleven of him. It will also be like this in Empoli where in all likelihood there will be three or four changes compared to Frankfurt and they won’t concern the big players in the attack: “Away games cause tiredness and fatigue and therefore we gave Wednesday a total rest; then we have very good trainers and above all victories are the best head and leg massage for footballers.”
LOBE IN THE VIEWFINDER
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Some of Spalletti’s untouchables never seem to need rest, on the contrary they recharge by playing: “It depends on what kind of team you have; if you’re dealing with Di Lorenzo or with someone like Osimhen who still breaks in the 90th minute to recover a defender is difficult to think of keeping them out. If you have players who always work well you notice it at every training session while maybe others need to rest more. Lobotka is one of those you find it hard to give up because he has now taken possession of the role, just think I already wanted to take him from Inter. Alessandro Pane, a former Empoli player, told me about it but Inter couldn’t spend that money at the time.” A final gem that Spalletti wanted to give before the moved memory of Maurizio Costanzo: “I recently learned of Maurizio Costanzo’s death, I am very sorry because we are losing an important man of Italian lifestyle and television”. Satisfaction instead for the Bearzot award: “I’m proud of what the character was and what he taught, having that award in my house makes me feel stronger”.
February 24, 2023 (change February 24, 2023 | 15:59)
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