PRESS CONFERENCE | Ranieri after Cagliari-Lecce
Thus Claudio Ranieri after the 1-1 draw against Lecce at the Unipol Domus.
THE MATCH AND THE KEY EPISODE
‘I think the referee saw it right, then he was called back by Var and at that point he had to change the decision. I have my doubts that Gaetano hit the opponent, it almost looks like he took his foot off. It’s a pity because we were doing well and we weren’t letting Lecce play and they risked winning in the final. When you can’t win it’s better to take home a point, if you’ll allow me a joke I’ll say that on the sending off there’s an abyss between giving it and not giving it (reference to the name of today’s Var official ed). My caution? I only told the referee that it seemed to me that Gaetano hadn’t touched the opponent, I certainly didn’t want to put pressure or anything, it’s a shame but let’s move on’.
REGRET AND OPTIMISM
‘I congratulated the boys, they didn’t give up in difficult times and in the early heat. As long as we were in a numerical tie we never conceded, then the expulsion changed everything. That’s fine, I accept the result. Today we got a point and that’s fine as it turned out. I’m happy that the team remained organised all the way, I always say that you have to leave the pitch without regrets and we did that today too: Cagliari will always fight, first and foremost for the Sardinian people who support us at all times’.
INDIVIDUALS
‘Yerry is a wonderful guy, he conveys positivity and leadership to everyone. He has become a leader in a short time, he seemed to have been with us for three to four years as soon as he arrived, unfortunately he can only train a little, when he did at his best then he got injured and couldn’t play in Monza and Genoa. He gives us so much in terms of charisma, personality, attention. Luvumbo? He lacks a bit of experience, he doesn’t always have to go a thousand paces forward, he has to learn to manage moments and rhythms, playing with his teammates, he’ll learn that with time. Today’s changes? Augello was a bit tired and needed freshness as well as Lecce were inserting new players at the time, Obert had to work on Almqvist when he came on, I took off Nandez who had no more and was coming down with the flu, Nahitan has a huge heart’.
ON WITH MILAN
‘We will play every match to the last drop of energy, sparing no effort, regardless of who we face. This team never gives up, it’s doing well and it showed that today. Nobody pulled the plug after Juventus. I never did and neither did my boys, now comes the hard part and we are there’.
