We Played A Great Match - Genoa Coach Gasperini
Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini praised his team following the 3-0 win in the derby against Sampdoria.
"Today we played a great match," he said to Sky, "Motivations in a derby are always special, last Sunday they weren't the same, against Livorno in fact I was afraid some players held back to avoid getting booked. It was a great match, today we were the Genoa of the start of the season again."
Late in the first half Genoa defender Giuseppe Biava was sent off, but Gasperini's team scored the second goal early in the second half.
"Biava's sending off? I wasn't calm, because we still had the entire second half to play and Sampdoria are a very dangerous team," Gasperini continued. "But we defended well, with a lot of attention, and found back the solidity we had lost since a few games. It's just too bad we didn't make more of our chances in the first half.
"Often we are criticised for being too offensive, but we also want to be able to suffocate the opposition's play, recover the ball and counterattack quickly, which we did very well today."
Danilo Pochini, Goal.com
Hosted by Stephen Crawford & Adam Scime
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
Full story HERE
“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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