Genoa – Il Stankovic’s return between the posts and Verres captain. In the press conference on the eve of the match, Andrea Pirlo provides two previews regarding Sampdoria who will face Cosenza at Marassi today. After Ascoli one of the doubts to be resolved was precisely that of the goalkeeper. After the victory on penalties in the Italian Cup against Sudtirol, Ravaglia immediately made room for Stankovic. Pirlo had been explicit: «Filip came here to play». And for 8 matches the Serbian goalkeeper was a starter amidst errors (Pisa, Venice, Catanzaro) and decisive saves, especially in Cremona and Parma. At Del Duca, surprisingly, the Maestro had brought out the most expert Ravaglia, 34 years old, fresh from renewal until 2026. The goalkeeper from Romagna had performed well. And so the doubt arose as to who would play the next match. But Pirlo yesterday assured that he had made his decision some time ago: «Stankovic will return to play. I had already budgeted it after Ravaglia’s presence in Ascoli.” Put like this, the stoppage in the Marche should be considered occasional: in Pirlo’s mind, Filip is still the starter. But obviously he will have to keep his place with saves.
Just yesterday, the words released to the Hungarian media by his father, Dejan Stankovic, Sampdoria coach last season and now on the Ferencvaros bench. «Filip was not on the pitch in the last match, but he is ready, we have to go through these difficult phases. The fight continues at Sampdoria where I left off, with my head down.” And with a new chance available in today’s delicate challenge. Like many teammates, Stankovic Junior also made more mistakes at Marassi but today he will be able to make up for it under the South team which excites him so much, ever since he came to cheer for dad Deki last season.
Born in 2002, Stankovic completes the baby defense with the twenty-year-olds Ghilardi and Gonzalez central in front of him. Compared to Ascoli, the two young defenders will be orphans of Murru, who is struggling with a muscle strain in the hamstring of his right thigh. «Murru’s presence is important – Pirlo admitted – because this season he has always had great performances, we are satisfied with what he is doing. And then he is the captain, he will be difficult to replace.” The absence of Murru in addition to the void in defense leaves Pirlo with the choice of which Sampdoria player to entrust the wing to. “I think he will go to whoever has the most appearances – the coach explained yesterday – therefore to Verre”.
In the victory in Terni the captain had been Bereszynski, then went to Empoli in the loan exchange with Stojanovic. Since then the armband has always been on Murru’s arm, preferred in his role to Alex Ferrari, then stopped by the rupture of the cruciate ligament in his right knee. Today, on the day of the tribute to Paolo Mantovani on the shirts, it’s Verre’s turn who has a heavy number on his shoulders, the 10 which belonged to Mancini. So far the Roman has not met expectations. Two assists, encouraging ideas in the first appearances, then the decline. In the case of 4-3-1-2 Verre will probably act as an attacking midfielder: it will be up to him to trigger the strikers. Samp’s rise also passes through his feet.
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