Baroni: ‘Lazio passed Napoli test, but must keep humility’

Marco Baroni feels that Lazio passed the ‘test’ by beating Napoli for the second time in four days, but also warns they cannot ‘lose our humility or spirit of sacrifice’ now.

The Aquile are something of a nightmare team for Antonio Conte’s Napoli, because they beat them 3-1 in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 on Thursday, then got another 1-0 victory in Serie A at the Stadio Maradona this evening.

Both sides had hit the frame of the goal during the match, which was ultimately decided when Tijjani Noslin’s pass from midfield sent Gustav Isaksen running, cutting inside Mathias Olivera to bend a left-foot finish into the far top corner.

“We are happy, it was a great performance and we had the approach that we wanted,” Baroni told DAZN.

“I told the team this was a test and we wanted to measure ourselves up against the best so that we could lift our level and be increasingly competitive.

“I thank everyone who played, whether they started or not, as they all gave their contribution.”

Baroni wants Lazio to keep challenging themselves

Not only does this result knock Napoli off top spot, it also puts Lazio within three points of new leaders Atalanta and just one behind Conte’s men.

The Biancocelesti are on spectacular form, winning 13 of their last 16 competitive matches between Serie A, the Coppa Italia and Europa League.

“Straight away these lads showed how fired up they were, their work ethic and our first challenge is to prove ourselves. We are up against teams that were built to win, we can get there with good football. That is the only way we can play,” continued Baroni.

“I think we largely achieved that except for the final 15 minutes of the first half, when we got a bit tense and irritable, which is when Napoli were more dangerous. We need to play good football and these games just help us to keep growing.”

Noslin scored a hat-trick in the Coppa Italia against Napoli on Thursday, then came on as a substitute and provided the assist for Isaksen.

“Noslin needs to improve, but when I talk about the squad as having no reserves, I mean it. They all make it so difficult for me to choose a starting XI every week, they are all working in the same direction,” added Baroni.

“This was the first big game for Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and he has such margin for improvement. We will help him to grow and he will in turn help the team.

“We are doing well, we know that, but we must not lose our humility or spirit of sacrifice. There is a very long way to go yet.”

Do Lazio have an objective for this season or are they just taking it one game at a time?

“Our objective is just to be ready for these matches and keep improving. These are the games we want to be a part of, so we can challenge ourselves,” concluded the coach.

“We’ve got to keep working, because it’s a hard climb up the mountain and it’s a very fast fall back down. We keep playing with this character and then we’ll see what happens on the pitch.”