Ranieri ahead of cup derby: “Ready to give our all”

Claudio Ranieri left no doubt that his Sampdoria side are fully focused on beating Genoa in the Coppa Italia Fourth Round when he spoke to the media ahead of the game on Wednesday.

“I’ve never played a knock-out derby before – this is the first time,” said Ranieri. “The derby is the derby and that’s the way you need to go into it. It’s a match with an extra edge, particularly in this case when it’s all or nothing.”

Ranieri insisted that his players are desperate to bounce back from Sunday’s defeat to Bologna with a win.

“We come into this game full of determination and anger,” said the coach. “We know we did some good things but made some mistakes too. We’re up against a good, aggressive team that plays good football and moves well. They’ll fight until the end. We need to be focused and ready to give our all.”