Under-fire Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri admits his team on the verge of a full-blown crisis before their Champions League crunch with Celtic after their worst start to the season for 21 years.
The Rome giants go to Glasgow in their next game in the group stages after their remarkable draw at home to Atletico Madrid last week when keeper Ivan Provedel headed in a last-gasp equaliser. But they failed to kick on in Serie A and were held to a 1-1 home draw against Monza, meaning they have only collected four points in their opening five games.
Sarri was booed by the Lazio fans and accepted: "We were too passive and handed the game to our opponents, so we did deserve the jeers. Clearly, many things aren’t working well at the moment, but as we said before the match, it is difficult to think we can just emerge from this negative moment quickly. We ought to do more, but we’re struggling at the moment. We hoped the Atletico game would help us kickstart the season, but playing after the Champions League game is tough for everyone, especially for us because we are not used to it.
"It is strange and we need to evaluate what is not going right in the environment around the team. I think the big problem is recovering the mental energy because there is a significant drop after a big match and it is not easy to recharge the motivation and determination after a couple of days. But it can't be an excuse because we gave everything to qualify for the Champions League, so now we cannot just abandon every match that comes after those fixtures.”
And Lazio midfielder Danilo Cataldi was equally as puzzled with Celtic on the horizon. He said: "We matched Atletico and showed we can compete against the big teams. But clearly we are struggling to
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