19 January 2020
Cristiano Ronaldo's brace secured a victory at Allianz Stadium against Parma. These are the declarations of CR7, Sarri and de Ligt after the game:
CRISTIANO RONALDO
“Today it was important to win, we knew it and we played a difficult game well. Parma is an excellent team and, for me, having helped the team win with two goals is very nice. In the final minutes they went up and put us in difficulty, and even though we suffered, we conquered three fundamental points.”
MAURIZIO SARRI
“The team is growing, tonight we played a less clean game than usual, we have the responsibility not be so closed: we suffered in the last five minutes against a healthy and physical team like Parma. We have changed a lot since Wednesday. After the 2-1, I wanted to give the team a message to avoid complications in the final, and then with Douglas Costa we tried to balance ourselves.
“Rabiot's only problem is to play right, but in the rumble, he can play safely and is now growing. Ramsey at Arsenal was often a midfielder, sometimes even the second striker, so he can play safely in that position. They both come from another world, have had two or three months of complicated by physical problems.
"The goal can be avoided by being a little less passive. When the ball starts we are all static and the body language says that we are mentally too. We need to be more active, we were fast-improving on defending dead balls, tonight we conceded a goal like that, but it must be said, against a team that is a specialist in this.
"We can grow mentally and in the management of certain moments of the matches. I didn't like the end of the game in which we dribbled in our half of the pitch, I prefer to do it close to the opponent's area. Cristiano is a champion, who knows how to solve a hundred problems ."
MATTHIJS DE LIGT
“We achieved an important victory, we had the opportunity to go four points ahead of second place in the standings and we are happy to have succeeded. We played well in the first half, creating many chances and in the second we gave a good reaction after Cornelius' equaliser and made it 2-1. We are doing well, amongst the best in Europe, but we know this and we want to improve even further.”
