"Atalanta has been on a long journey that began 10 years ago, which has led to them conquering Europe and making different levels of investment compared to 10 years ago. Now they can afford players of a certain level, and the gap increases. Lazio have to take this path and make investments to return to Europe, with consistency, and have a better economic picture."
"We will have to play a very difficult game against a strong Champions League team. We have to have pride; we've reached the semi-finals by eliminating last year's finalists. It's not massively important in terms of our future. Next year will have to be 'year one' and not 'year zero'."
Lazio faces Atalanta in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg at Stadio Olimpico, seeking their first trophy since 2019. Sarri acknowledges the match against the strong Champions League team presents a difficult challenge but emphasizes it is not Lazio's primary objective this season. He highlights Atalanta's decade-long development journey, which involved strategic investments and progression to European prominence. Sarri stresses that Lazio must follow a similar path with consistent investment and economic improvement to return to European competition. Despite being 11 points behind seventh-place Atalanta in Serie A, Lazio demonstrated resilience by eliminating Bologna on penalties to reach the semi-finals.
Read at Soccer News
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