Collecchio, 19 April 2025 - Cristian Chivu's words, during his pre-match press conference on Matchday 33 of Serie A against Juventus.

A VERY EMOTIONAL GAME, I WANT TO GIVE THE FANS A GIFT

“From when I arrived, I said we had 13 finals, now there are six left. We are ready to think of these games as finals as our work has always been putting the idea in the players mind that we should play as if it's a final. As a main goal, we want to have a good game, and to get a good result. To the fans, given that it's an emotional game, I want to give them a gift. We are building the mentality that we must approach the game in the right way, treating them all like a final, and adapting based on the opposition. It's obvious that matches against Inter, AC Milan or Juve become more emotional games for fans. Against Inter, we would like to reward the fans with a good game and a good performance'.

JUVENTUS, QUALITY EVERYWHERE

“Juventus have a team, and a body that, rather than simply players on the field, have this consistent quality. Lately they have a more direct play style, it is intense and they have the players to do it, and they manage to overlap often, giving their opposition a numerical disadvantage. We must be ready and we must remain compact, remain focused, and close passing lanes. But we must have options to get forward to develop our own play. What player would I take from Juve? I don't waste energy on thinking who there is and isn't. They have players to replace anyone who is out injured, so I am not interested. Obviously they have good forward players, but they also have strong substitutes with no less quality. We are thinking of what we have to do, understanding where we can exploit certain moments clinically and calmly. We are also thinking of the consistency that we will have to put in for the full 100 minutes of the game'

TUDOR AND CHIVU, FROM EX-PLAYERS TO MANAGERS

“I don't think what we did as players is important right now, we are both trying to have a professional career. We have changed careers and it is very different to being a player. We are two managers that, more or less, have experience in winning teams, that played good football and we wanted to win, and it often happened. As managers, it is a bit different right now. We are trying to look at our goals and I'm sure Juve are too. The difference is that we are humble enough to realise that we are fighting for safety, they, instead, have different ambitions, especially seeing the money invested for players in the Summer. Igor has always used the same system since he arrived: 3-4-2-1. But we are ready for anything. In Serie A, you always need to know more and we are trying to be ready for whatever surprise the opposition may have throughout the game.'

THE SQUAD'S AND FANS' ENTHUSIASM

“Balancing enthusiasm and faith is never easy, it is a job where you need to be sensible. Before you heard the cry of enthusiasm from our players. I like seeing this as we have worked to build this enthusiasm and this approach to games. However, at the same time, our boys are humble and they know the work they need to do. I think we have balanced it pretty well, but as a perfectionist, I think we can still improve. What I like is that we have found our enthusiasm, and so have the fans, who have been boosting us, especially at home, but also, as I was saying last week, away, like in Verona. I keep level-headed and I do my job and I try to boost my players, helping them understand this is a job, but they must be passionate, and they must love what they do so they need to come to training every day with the desire to improve and to not wait, I don't know, for their pay package or for next year when something may happen. We need to raise the bar in terms of motivation and ambition as individuals and as a team. For me, I remain humble with my work, looking to understand these moments, avoiding creating confusion and rewarding players as in the end they are on the pitch, and they understand their intentions and ideas. Being a manager is not just about adjusting every player. It is much more complicated, but the credit goes to the players, who execute the manager's ideas by improving and adding that little but more'.

MOTIVATION FOR EVERY GAME

“I think that playing Juve on a Monday night will give us extra motivation, it is a game that I would love to play in myself. I don't need to add much extra motivation in these sorts of games, because they are important fixtures that every player wants to win and perform well in. I want to do it myself... the problem is that we must have that same motivation for every game, against any opposition. Then, obviously we must control our emotions and ensure to not make mistakes, but we should show that we are capable of playing at this level. Above all, these boys are ready to play Juve. This week, they have made it hard for me to decide who to start and I love seeing this attitude because that is what I wanted to drill into them since I arrived'.

THE PREPARATION

“We have had an intense week and we have been working well. It is true that we still have two days to go and this conference is earlier than normal. In terms of news, we are looking to see if we can get someone back who has had some issues. We have two days to go and we are training on Sunday and on Monday morning: so we must be patient. I am referring to Cancellieri and someone else who has had an issue. Other than Cancellieri, Balogh felt something in training after Fiorentina. He is doing different work and we will see if we manage to get him back before the game'.

PARMA, A GREAT PLACE

“We must stay balanced. I say it often, but we are better than we were, we have improved. We needed a little spark, to understand our level and our position. At the same time we aim to work well and to try and get good results as this city deserves to have a team in Serie A, as it is such a serene environment, and it is a magnificent place. Maybe they don't realise that they are working so hard or playing so often as the atmosphere is so great. And this is coming from someone who hasn't done many world tours, but someone who has worked in high pressure environments aplenty.

MORE CLINICAL IN FRONT OF GOAL

“Compared to the two games against Inter and Fiorentina, I would like us to be more clinical, as we created two clear chances against Inter, one-on-one, and we didn't convert them. The same thing happened against Fiorentina: after two minutes we missed a golden chance. I need us to be more clinical as in Serie A you don't get that many chances. Therefore, we need to realise that if we get five chances in the box, one-on-one, we need to score all five. Regarding our play, against Inter we had nothing to lose and we did great things. We did the same thing against Fiorentina, but after the break, we could have done more, we were inconsistent. It was the yellow cards that harmed us in that game but these aren't excuses. We must find motivation through the highs and lows. I wasn't happy with two points in the end. Yes, they are two important teams and some probably thought we would get no points, but I think we could've gotten more, given the chances that we created over 180 minutes against Inter and Fiorentina'.