Cremonese upset Serie A leaders Napoli by showing them the exit door In their Coppa Italia round of 16 tie.
U.S. Cremonese's new manager, Davide Ballardini, has revealed why his club overcame Serie A league leaders Napoli.
According to the Manager, the key reason for their triumph at the Diego Maradona stadium was the execution of certain principles during their pre-match training session.
The Italian, who replaced Massimiliano Alvini in less than 72 hours, made his Coppa Italia debut against the Serie A leaders on Tuesday.
The Parthenopeans were held to a 2-2 tie by the Tigers in the first 90 minutes, forcing a penalty shootout in which Ballardini's men proved to be more of a nuisance, winning the shootout 4-5.
In the absence of Cyriel Dessers, David Okereke was instrumental in their triumph, providing a critical assist for his team's first goal.
According to Tutto Napoli, the former Genoa manager, who took the bottom-of-the-league team to the quarterfinals in his debut game, talked to a Mediaset microphone.
“This is a victory that counts because we were a team until the end.” he said
However, when asked what he had done quickly to ignite the triumph in such a short time, he answered
“On the general principles: defensive phase, the space to occupy, the pressures to make. We arrived on Sunday, we had three training sessions, so we worked a lot on the principles.”
However, when his team travels to Stadio Renato Dall'Ara to play Bologna, the Ravenna native will have more challenges to overcome.
