Baroni previews Twente and explains Lazio’s bad away form: ‘The data doesn’t lie’ | OneFootball

Marco Baroni feels that Lazio will need an ‘extraordinary’ performance to beat FC Twente away from home in the Europa League on Thursday evening, and has also given his take on Lazio’s poor form away from the Stadio Olimpico over the last year.

Baroni conducted his customary pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening, ahead of the Biancocelesti game at De Grolsch Veste on Thursday.

Baroni assesses Twente-Lazio in Europa League

Though Lazio sit in third in the Europa League standings with a maximum six points from their opening wins against Nice and Dynamo Kyiv, Baroni believes that Twente will give his side a ‘difficult test’.

“They’re a young team that plays really good football,” Baroni told the press.

“They’ve done very well in the last two European games. It’ll be a difficult test for us, especially at their place with their support. We’ve watched them, we know that we will have to put in a high level performance with intensity and sacrifices tomorrow.”

Baroni was also asked if Lazio are taking the Europa League more seriously this season than they have done in recent years.

He replied: “We want to compete in every competition. It won’t be enough to just have ‘ordinary’ levels of motivation tomorrow, we’ll need something extraordinary. These are the games in the best conditions: A beautiful stadium and a young set of opponents who play well and with enthusiasm.”

Assessing the 1-0 loss to Juventus in Serie A over the weekend, the coach added: “I always tell the guys that bad games can not deter us from our journey.

“I always say we learn from the games we don’t win. In tough games against teams like Juventus, we will know what it’s like to come under pressure. We gave a good account of ourselves for 22 minutes, then it became difficult with their numerical superiority.”

There was also an update on his team’s fitness: “Lazzarri is recovering. Guendouzi (decision) was a choice to help him recover as much as possible. The team has to seize their opportunities in games like these.”

Baroni reviwes Lazio’s poor away form

Baroni was then asked what he makes of Lazio’s record away from home. The team have lost 17 of their last 30 away games in all competitions.

“We’ve obviously seen the data, I don’t like to hide from it because the numbers are clearly telling us something. There have been some anomalies in some oof those games, but we have to pay attention to what the stats say. “We can never be lacking in attitude, that’s an important step, the team can’t lose its way. We’re away from the Olimpico again today, and I expect us to play a game with all of those requirements.