An interesting statement comes out from Palermo’s coach, Delio Rossi regarding his team’s failure in qualifying at the Europa League after only managing a 2-2 draw against Sparta Prague at Renzo Barbera last Thursday.
Needing a win to qualify, the Sicilian side disappoint their fans and Italian football in a whole as they become the third Italian team that goes out from the competition following Juventus and Sampdoria’s exit in Wednesday.
Attempting to wash away the accusation that Italian teams doesn’t really care about the second rate competition, Rossi revealed that the main reason behind Palermo’s failure to qualify from their group is because the lack of experience that their players had. The ex- Lazio coach said that the inexperience from his players can be seen by the fact that the Rossanero usually gets their personnels sent off in a game, which definitely makes thing harder for them.
“We always seem to go a man down, today eventually two, and we cannot make this sort of mistake at this level,” Rossi stated. “The red cards prove that in Europe there is a different way of viewing fouls and we do not have enough experience in how to spread that pressure through the team.”
Surely the ex-Lazio coach’s statement provide another insight for football fans as the majority does believe that Italian teams doesn’t give their all in the competition because their performance in local competition is much better rather than in Europe. Having talented players such as Javier Pastore, Josep Ilicic and many more it’s surely difficult to believe that Palermo are out of the Europa League with a rather poor records in their group.
Should what Rossi stated is true, than it would definitely be a hard task for Palermo’s future as they are aiming for a place in the UEFA Champions League zone by the end of the season. Admitting the fact that his players are still lacking experience to even compete in a competition lower than the Champions, maybe getting a target to play in the UCL should be reconsidered if they don’t want to be a one flight passenger in the competition
photo credit: Grazia Bucca
