Montella lauds Sampdoria character after Lazio point: “We refused to lose”

Vincenzo Montella praised the character shown by his Sampdoria side after their battled back from a goal down to salvage a point against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Monday night.

“We didn’t deserve to lose and we refused to do so,” began Montella. “I saw the right attitude tonight – they players just did not want to lose. They worked hard, showed focus and there was desire and willing from all sides.”

Montella also reiterated his belief that he made the right decision in taking charge at Sampdoria: “I wanted to come to Samp and I have no regrets because I’m convinced I made the right decision. It was important for us to come together as a group and now we look like a real team. We need to maintain this attitude as we go through the season.”

Asked about his decision to start Luis Muriel on the bench, Montella replied: “I preferred to play Cassano from the start – you can still make a decisive contribution from the bench.”

The Doria coach then analysed the match in more detail: “There was more collaboration between the players when defending. We’ve worked hard on keeping it compact between the different areas of the team and we finally got that spark tonight. The training camp in Sicily helped us to get to know each other and work on the details.

“After going a goal down we showed a reaction worthy of a great side. I’m proud of the team. As of tomorrow we’ll assess the fitness of those who couldn’t play tonight and switch our attentions to the Coppa Italia and then to Palermo,” concluded Montella.