Lotito Recalls ‘Lucky’ Inzaghi, Reveals Why Sarri Left Lazio

I wake up at 6:00 am, I only sleep three hours, maybe three and a half hours. I’ll make 2,000 phone calls a day, maybe even a little more. At 8:30/8:45, I arrive at the Senate and stay there until late night, perhaps 10:45 pm.

I don’t have any free time, when I get home after a twenty-minute nap in the car, I start looking at all the mail. My wife put up my photo instead (he says laughing). As long as my body can handle it, I’ll maintain this routine, because I’m anxious and want to change things and I expect the team to have the same attitude.

I play scopa (a card game). I had many difficult opponents. In the world of football, you can find many who are good at playing cards because they’re used to it. Inzaghi played well, but he was very lucky. He is a lucky person which is a positive thing. Napoleon once said that a lucky soldier is better than a good one. So having luck on youri side is an added value.

Playing with Bielsa? I tried to play a game, but I realized that the game he proposed was not a sporting one, It was a game that didn’t fit my needs considering the fact that you have to be stable. When you take a position, you have to hold on to it.

I had a good relationship with Sarri. He has his own ideas from a political and behavioral point of view. However, we formed a strong chemistry based on respect. In an interview, he made a statement that gratified and surprised me by saying that I was one of the most intelligent people he knew.

After an easy match at the Olimpico (Lazio-Udinese) where the team had a lousy display, he told me that the players no longer had the pride to fight. I told him that I would send them on retreat, and he accepted.

However, Some of the players complained, perhaps because they no longer had a soul, and I realized that they were using the retreat to voice their displeasure with Sarri, especially the most experienced players. This made me understand that he was not welcome anymore, even if they didn’t have the courage to say it.

Sarri decided to leave on the assumption that he was no longer able to govern the dressing room. I kept his salary until the end of the season, albeit I could have ditched since he had resigned. But I did it out of respect.

Tudor took a commanding position as coach and implemented substantial changes, so much so that the team had a surge of pride. Then, however, at the end of the season, he told me that some of the players who were creating problems had to be changed.

So I decided that substantial changes had to be made, to eradicate those who were convinced that they were the owners of the club, which in reality has only one owner, one sole proprietor, who must work for the good of the club.

We have chosen a coach who speaks our language, who is hungry for success and who wants to prove himself. Everyone has crticized me for making this choice. But as I always say: “The ball is for everyone, but football is only for a few”.