06 April 2018
WOUNDED LIONS
"We are wounded lions, but we are not dead yet. On Tuesday night the team played well for 60 minutes, but sometimes certain games can go this way, especially in the Champions League when you face the best. Last year we beat Barcelona 3-0 but suffered more in that match than we did against Real, at least until the second goal, football is like this. We must accept the defeat and use all the anger we felt on the field on Tuesday night against Benevento.
"It's normal that the players were a bit down after the match, but they all trained well on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as this morning. We are all ready to start again and continue our journey in the championship."
BACK TO IT VS BENEVENTO
"The lads know that tomorrow we cannot slip up, we have to keep the advantage over Napoli. We will be playing against a Benevento side that just won at home convincingly against Verona and play good football. They are tenth in the league with regards to chances created, and against Milan and Madrid we allowed too many shots on goal, so we must start being tighter in defence again. We have eight matches left until the end of the season and we can't allow Napoli back in it.
"Mandzukic is in good shape and could play from the start as could Cuadrado. Everyone is back and at my disposal apart from Barzagli and Bernardeschi. Szczesny will play tomorrow and Buffon will have a rest, and Chiellini most likely will sit out tomorrow too. Howedes could potentially feature as a substitute and I’ll probably rest Higuain but I still have to decide."
