“I have had the opportunity and pleasure of playing on these pitches during my career. For those who are used to the cold and these temperatures, it is actually different, because they are used to breathing this cold air, this biting air that stings your eyes and sometimes, depending on the wind, doesn’t even allow you to keep them open. At the same time, however, I think that a challenge like this is also exciting because you have to prove that you can adapt to any situation and manage the difficulties. The synthetic pitch will be a real challenge because it changes bounces and rebounds. The pitch bothers us, but we want to perform well. Bodo/Glimt play well, and my players know that tomorrow’s match will be very difficult. We have seen everything with the match analysts. The pace will make the difference, but we are already alert. To get better, we have to go through difficult matches. We don’t want to play easy matches, we want difficult ones to adapt and improve. Tomorrow, at the end of the match, we will find out whether we’ve been doing the right things or not.
“There will be some changes compared to the match in Florence, but I wouldn’t say it’s a complete overhaul of the line-up. It’s true that we didn’t play well against Fiorentina, but we didn’t play badly either. From what I’ve seen of the team playing, they have all the qualities they need to get better, but they need to recognise them and put them into practice at the right moments, as well as raising their individual level of quality. There is no longer any rigidity in terms of roles on the pitch; what now appears to be disorder is actually freedom, and it is precisely in that freedom that we need to find balance. This constant rotation of roles and search for the ideal position is actually an advantage.”
