Empoli, now only thinking about the championship: "Let's think about our objective"

by Simone CioniEMPOLI"The anticipation of pleasure is itself a pleasure". So says a famous quote by the German philosopher Lessing. A Empoli it was definitely the approach to a historic event like the Italian Cup semifinal against Bologna, much less the match itself which in fact never took place. The 3-0 defeat suffered by the Felsinei brings to mind a bit of what happened more than a month ago in the championship with Atalanta, on that occasion it finished 5-0 but also on Tuesday night the score could have been more severe if Seghetti had not patched things up in the final and the former Cambiaghi had not hit the post, in addition to other occasions. What was lacking, as against the Orobic, was the attitude and the consequent lack of intensity seen on the part of the Azzurri (after two minutes Bologna had already created two clear occasions, another analogy with the match against Gasperini's team).

Did the TV stage, the importance of the match and the splendid spectacle staged by the Maratona deserve more? Maybe. Bologna, especially if in the typical formation as it played with the exception of Castro, is at least three categories above the Azzurri at this moment, and not only that? Certainly. But let's be honest, Coppa Italia it couldn't be an objective for Empoli, much less set in a season finale like the current one, in which all energy must be conserved for the race for salvation. That is extremely important for the club. In the end, therefore, the lineup choices made by D'Aversa are more than understandable, one because it was also right to reward those who had earned this goal on the field, two because what better match to put minutes in the legs of those players who were coming off a long layoff (see Solbakken, still a bit behind, and Fazzini, more brilliant) and three because the fundamental match not to be missed is next Sunday's match against Cagliari.

"It's a shame because there was a very nice crowd and in some circumstances we could have done better and achieved a different result – commented the Italian coach in the post-match –. When you make mistakes against such a strong team it's difficult to win. The boys did well to make an entire city live a dream, but now let's think about Cagliari and think about our objective". On the eve of the match D'Aversa had underlined how this match could (had to) give that extra emotional and mental push for the championship, as in fact the Coppa Italia had always done so far, but this time the group will have to be good at immediately erasing this performance and putting into the challenge with Cagliari everything that was not seen on Tuesday: intensity, aggression, hunger, desire and determination in the duels. In the meantime, they have already resumed training yesterday, which will continue in the morning until Saturday at the Sussidiario.