‘They also learned from last week’
NOS Football–
AZ coach Jansen wary of Lazio: ‘They also learned from last week’
AZ starts Thursday’s home game with a 2-1 win in their pocket against Lazio in the Conference League eighth finals. But coach Pascal Jansen is wary of the Italians: “They also learned from last week’s game. We are taking various scenarios into account.”
AZ also had a learning moment from the match at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome: the first twenty minutes the Alkmaarders were played away and there was no prospect of a good result.
“We talked a lot about those first 20, 25 minutes. We were a little too impressed and lost the ball a few times when it was totally unnecessary. That has to come out for tomorrow’s game.”
Conference League not so important
An advantage for AZ could be that the Conference League is not considered to be very important in Italy, so there is a chance that Lazio will not field its strongest team. That question also got AZ striker Vangelis Pavlidis.
“I don’t know how they look at the Conference League in Italy,” the Greek replied. “I do know that AS Roma won the cup last season. And Lazio will have come here to win from us, not for a tour of the Netherlands.”
AZ striker Pavlidis wary of Lazio: ‘They have seen what we can do’
Speaking of AS Roma: next Sunday Lazio will play the derby against the arch-rival. Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri said earlier in the day, when asked, that he would rather win the duel with AS Roma than the match against AZ.
“I do understand that question, it’s a very important match for Lazio,” Jansen responded. “But for us this is not a topic. For us, only tomorrow’s match is important.”
