Rome, 28 April 2025 – This is what Cristian Chivu had to say following Parma’s draw away to Lazio on matchday 34 of the 2024/25 Serie A Enilive season:
“I'm happy to have seen my team give everything, a team that had the courage to try certain things. A team that was angry at the end of the match, and that pleases me because the hard work they've been putting in is starting to bear fruit, and it's also beginning to create a sense of ambition.
“I'm proud of the players and what they showed on the pitch. There's no regret because, in the end, you earn the result you get. We accept the outcome – a team like Lazio, having put five forwards on the pitch can always score two goals, especially when they pin you back.
“Our idea was to create a square-like shape in midfield to put their midfielders under pressure. We did this quite well, but perhaps, in the first half, we didn’t quite pass it enough and lacked a bit of courage. After the restart, we tried to keep the ball more in their half rather than playing it backwards. Then, when we started to tire, we were missing a natural midfielder, and we sent on Hernani Jr. to construct a three-man midfield. Sohm and Keita did a great job.
“We'll take the draw and move on. I'm pleased for Ondrejka and the work he's doing. He also gave us a big hand defensively. He started out as a winger but prefers to play between the lines, looking to take up the right positions. He's only just arrived and has already scored three goals – one against Inter and two against Lazio – but he still has a lot to work on. Nevertheless, he's a player with real quality.
“We've been maintaining the right mentality for quite a while now – and we're constantly adding new pieces. April is over, a month in which we faced some top teams, some fighting for the title, others for the Champions League. We picked up six points when everyone had written us off, saying we'd need to do the unimaginable. But we didn’t pull off miracles – we simply weren't inferior to anyone.
“We fielded a team that fought hard in all four matches this past month, and, in the end, we picked up six very important points given the situation we're in. Is survival almost secured? We're not focusing on our points tally; instead, we're taking it game by game. The important thing is we’ve seen a reaction, a team willing to make sacrifices, defend, stay compact and, at the same time, execute certain things in possession.
“Today, we could even have killed off the match when we were 2-0 up, but it’s never easy when you're pushed back and players like Pedro – a real class act – come on and make things difficult. I'm very proud – not just of today, but of all the work we've done over these past two months.”
