Ranieri: “We’re ready to fight to get a positive result”

“Serie A is starting up again and it’s a debut of sorts for me as I joined the club during the season last year. Starting the campaign is always an exciting moment.” Claudio Ranieri is ready for the opening game, with Sunday’s clash with Juventus kicking off the coach’s first full season at the helm. “We have an advantage in terms of knowing each other, what we want and how to achieve it, even though we’ll be up against an excellent team that has won the league for nine years in a row.”

The match at the Juventus Stadium will be Andrea Pirlo’s first fixture in charge of the Bianconeri, which Ranieri was keen to acknowledge in his press conference. “When you change coach, it always takes some time to understand their new tactical ideas. I wish Pirlo the best of luck and hope he is a successful coach, but we’ll be ready to play, push and fight on Sunday to achieve a positive result.”

“Not having the fans at the stadium is a big shame because they’re the soul of football. Our supporters got behind us during the most difficult moments last season and were a pillar of strength. Even though they can’t be physically with us at the stadium, I ask them to keep supporting us and we’ll try to repay them on the pitch by providing happy moments that we didn’t experience last year.”