Gian Piero Gasperini Reveals Why He Joined Roma Instead Of Juventus

It will be an unusual week in the Italian Serie A this weekend as the 16th round of matches are going to take place while four teams will be playing at the Supercoppa Italiana four team tournament in Saudi Arabia and that means that only six matches would be played.

More Details

With Napoli, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Bologna not playing, the game between Juventus and Roma at the Allianz Stadium is definitely the top fixture this week, putting two teams that could be challenging for the title this season against each other with plenty of history between them.

LATEST POSTS

While the Giallorossi have been the much more stable side this season with Gian Piero Gasperini, the Bianconeri have had to sack Igor Tudor and replaced him with Luciano Spalletti, but it could have been a different story entirely if the Old Lady were able to actualize their initial plans.

This is after Gasperini confirmed that he picked Roma over Juventus last summer as the Giallorossi offered a ‘more difficult’ challenge and he made this revelation during the pre-match press conference on Friday on the eve of a Serie A match in Turin against a side he could have been coaching.

The Italian tactician provided the latest team news, saying that Mario Hermoso is not fully fit due to muscle fatigue, so he might be forced to make changes in defence as Evan Ndicka is also unavailable. Roma hired Gasperini last summer, poaching him from Atalanta

On the other hand, reports seems to suggest that Damien Comolli had offered him the Juventus job as well and Gasperini has now explained why he chose the Giallorossi over the Bianconeri. “Because it was more difficult. I’m happy with how it went,” Gasperini said.

“Now we face this important match. Juve remain a great team, certainly strong and always able to reinforce themselves. Winning is always in their DNA; we come to this match after a good performance against Como and in Glasgow, and we want to test ourselves against this team.” He continued.

“I think we’ve been good: 15 matches is a good streak to give some indications. I don’t know if we are among the best, but the boys have been excellent in almost all games, even when we didn’t manage to win. It’s important for them to try to catch up and for us to maintain or increase our advantage.”

“It’s December 19, concentration is at its peak, and it’s very exciting to play this match with this ranking. The rest can wait, this is not the time.” Roma sit fourth in the Serie A table, with a four-point lead over fifth-placed Juventus, so tomorrow’s meeting is a key one in the race for a Champions League spot.

Gasperini was questioned about his relationship with Spalletti, who replaced Tudor at the end of October. “It’s certainly friendly. When he was at Inter, we happened to have dinner together and we often spoke when he was with the national team,” Gasp revealed.” He replied.

“Now we talk less, but we will greet each other cordially. It’s not easy to be appointed mid-season, but he’s trying to bring his ideas. Facing them is always difficult because they have top-level players. The rivalry with Juventus is felt in all cities. I was at the club as a youth coach, and always finding motivated opponents toughened the team.”

“Instead of being a disadvantage, it becomes an advantage. Juve have always been a benchmark in my career. When you beat them, it means you are competitive, even in less successful seasons; they remain among the best teams.” He concluded.

In a related development, Giacomo Raspadori has given the green light to join Roma in January, and Gasperini reportedly hopes that the club will welcome both the Italian striker and Joshua Zikrzee next month to help strengthen their attack even if they can only sign one of them.

They’re working to give Gasperini attacking reinforcements in the winter transfer window and, as already reported, they could sign two players up front next month but realistically and judging by their financial situation, they can sign only one of the two names mentioned unless they makes sales too.

According to the report, Raspadori has already given the green light to move to the Stadio Olimpico from Atletico Madrid, the club he joined last summer from Napoli and now, the Giallorossi are due to negotiate with the Colchoneros to bring the first winter reinforcement to the capital city club.

Read Also: Unlike The LaLiga, Serie A Match Outside Italy Is Expected To Go Ahead This Season

It would probably be on loan with an option to buy or an obligation tied to certain objectives and the coach will be hoping that the negotiations won’t last long, so he’ll soon welcome a new player in attack even if he would have preferred to have Zirkzee but that could prove harder than imagined.

Do you have a story tip?
Kindly Email: keepup@bettitude.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

Bookmark (0)

Please login to bookmark