Biglia and Pioli: “We’re here for the trophy”

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Biglia and Pioli: “We’re here for the trophy”
Biglia and Pioli: “We’re here for the trophy”
Biglia and Pioli: “We’re here for the trophy”

Lucas Biglia underlined his side’s determination to claim the first silverware on offer this campaign when they face Juventus in Saturday’s Super Cup final.

“This match means a lot to us and winning it would be a fitting way to cap off last season’s achievements, when we deserved to finish second in the league and gave a great account of ourselves in the Coppa Italia final against one of the strongest sides in Europe,” said the Argentine midfielder, who missed last season's showpiece event against the Old Lady through injury.

“Tomorrow represents a great opportunity for me to remedy the pain of watching last May’s final from the stands," the 29-year-old added.

Biglia, recently made captain by manager Stefano Pioli, stressed the need to dig deep against Massimiliano Allegri's men in order to take the spoils in Shanghai.

“We’ve trained well ahead of this match, but we need to translate the hard work into results. In order to achieve that, we need to put in even more effort than before," he concluded

Like Juventus, Lazio have also spent the summer playing friendlies against teams from across Europe, who had begun pre-season before their Italian counterparts.

As a result, first-team coach Pioli is looking forward to meeting a Bianconeri side at a similar stage in their preparations to his own charges.

“We face a team that is at the same point in their pre-season as us,” said the 49-year-old.

“While we have had a few setbacks with injuries to Ravel Morrison and Edson Braafheid, we’ve prepared for this match in the best way possible. We’re in good shape, especially mentally. While we respect our opponents, we’re very aware of our own abilities.”

Predicting a close encounter against Allegri’s men, Pioli reserved praise for the way his opposite number had assembled his new-look side for the current campaign.

“They’ve lost important players, such as Pirlo and Tevez, but they’ve also made some good signings this summer. I think that Juventus’ greatest strength is their winning mentality and a hard-working environment that breeds success.”

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