Roberto De Zerbi Auckland presser
Roberto De Zerbi spoke to the media at the team hotel in Auckland on Saturday (local time) ahead of the pre-season friendly against Auckland FC at Eden Park.
Key quotes from the press conference include:On being in New Zealand and the approach to the game:
“We are at the beginning of the pre-season, the most important thing is to play a serious game, for sure, and don’t take risks for the injuries, because it was a very long trip. We are at the beginning of the season, we have a lot of players who suffered injuries last season. We have to be serious on the pitch, we have to improve everything we did, but we can’t forget that the season will start in 20-25 days, and we are here with our physical condition, our knowledge, our connection with the players. We are happy to be here, because it’s an amazing country, amazing experience for us, but we can’t forget that we are here not in holiday, but we are here to be better when the Premier League starts.”
On the welcome and the match:
“It’s important for us, because we know the culture of New Zealand. It’s a great experience. We are looking forward to play tomorrow, to play against the winner of the A League, in front of a lot of people, because I think there will be 40,000 spectators, and we are ready.”
On the long travel:
“It was the longest trip, for sure, but listen, football in this part of the history is like this, no? Because a lot of very important clubs, they go to the pre-season in this type of tournament. We accept to do that, but we can’t lose our focus. Our focus is the beginning of the Premier League, to improve the physical condition of the players. The new players, they come inside of our methodology, of our style of play. We have no excuse, but it was a very long trip and we have to manage it.”
