SPECIAL FEATURE | TEAM SASSUOLO This article is reprinted from Realtà MAPEI International magazine, Issue #78.
SPORT UTILITY Team Sassuolo’s Manager De Zerbi plans to give young players a chance About Team Sassuolo: Unione Sportiva (U.S.) Sassuolo Calcio, also known as Sassuolo, is MAPEI’s football (soccer) team based in the town of Sassuolo, Italy. Founded in 1920, the team played in Serie C, but advanced to Serie A under MAPEI ownership. The team plays in MAPEI Stadium – Città del Tricolore in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, a stadium that features MAPEI’s sports products. Roberto De Zerbi, age 40, is in his second season as team manager of Sassuolo. As he explained in this interview, he expected more from the team’s performances over the first few months of the 2019-2020 championship: “We could have more points and have not been consistent enough, but I think there are plenty of good reasons (not excuses) why we are a little bit further down the table than we were this time last season.” What has changed compared to the first part of the 2018-2019 season? “In summer 2018 I had the entire squad available right from the first day of the pre-season training camp. Considering all the new players who joined us this summer and the long list of injuries, we are slightly lower down the table than we were this time last year. Not all years are the same. This year’s league is much more evenly balanced than it was last season. All those teams that have had players injured during autumn have really struggled.” In certain matches, Sassuolo really got going only after conceding a couple of goals. Why is that? “We still haven’t found the right mental approach. We have not played consistently right through any of our games so far. This is partly due to changes 36 RM North America 31 / 2020
in the starting Eleven: When you change lots of players, you will inevitably struggle to get back to the level you were at the previous year.” Regarding your matches against the top teams, you lost 4-3 against Inter Milan at MAPEI Stadium, but the team finished really strongly and almost had a tie. “Without ignoring the fact that we should have been more focused during the first 70 minutes, the team played really well after that.” Which was your best match during the first part of the season: The 4-1 win against Sampdoria, your 1-0 away win at Verona or the 3-1 win at home in the derby against Bologna? “The matches against Sampdoria, Verona, Bologna and also Spal were all good performances. But I would also like to focus on how well we played in matches we lost against Torino, when we had lots of players out injured, and also Roma when, unfortunately, our comeback began too late. As regards our worst performances, I would say they were the defeats against Atalanta and Parma.” This season Berardi has scored more goals and, generally speaking, played better than last season. “Berardi is scoring more freely and thinking more clearly, but I was also pleased with how he played last season when he was tight in the thick of things. People always remember goals, but he actually performed at a high level last season. Berardi is an exemplary player who has always worked really hard. He went through a bad patch last season, but he kept on training hard and is now playing well again.” How has Obiang been playing in midfield? “Whenever he has played well, the whole team has
