Giampaolo: “No room for error against Lazio”

Last-chance saloon. Do or die. Now or never. Call it what you will, nothing but victory will do for Sampdoria when they host Lazio on Sunday.

Marco Giampaolo knows his side’s European hopes are hanging by a thread and urged his men to leave no stone unturned as they try to secure a top-seven finish.

“Losing to Bologna was a major setback in our bid to qualify for Europe and we can’t afford any more slip-ups now,” he told the gathered media on Saturday.

“Last week’s defeat shouldn’t alter our mentality, though. We may be angry and upset that our target is that much further away but that mustn’t make us any less motivated. If we were to play the last five matches with our minds already on holiday, it would show we have no room for improvement.

“We’ve come so far but we’re not quite there yet. We need to use the rest of this season to take us as close as possible to where we want to be. We need to see what we can and must improve to close this gap.

The coach admitted he has some selection doubts ahead of the match.

“Lazio will be very strong. They have some great qualities and they’ve been doing well for years. We need to dig deep and give everything we have.

“I’m having a hard time deciding what team to put out. I’ll try to pick the 11 players that work best together so that we can try and get the best result possible.”