The head coach of Italian Serie A side Lazio Marco Baroni has explained the reason behind his decision to replace Nigeria international midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru during the half time break in their 4-1 win over Ligue 1 side Nice in the Europa League, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru started the game as part of a midfield two and with his team leading 2-1 going into the half time break, the Nigerian was replaced during the break alongside his partner Loum Tchaouna.
Baroni brought on Mattia Zaccagni and Nicolò Rovella for the duo and immediately saw his team regained control, and scored two more goals to kill off any chance of a fight back from the French side.
“It’s a shame about the goal we conceded, but in the second half we quickly regained control of the game. Then the field became difficult, they have a lot of physicality. We managed the rain well too”, he said after the game before explaining the reason behind taking out the Nigerian and his midfield partner in the first half.
“The two lads who came off have quality and prospects for the future, but we were up against a strong opponent and when you don’t press, you can run into difficulties.
“We needed to keep the ball more and raise the press, which we did very well, despite it being a very difficult pitch to play on in the rain.”
