Dim the lights, drop the head
Maurizio Sarri was supposed to front the first leg of the Europa Conference League play-off against Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Instead, he kicked things off by asking for the lights in the room to be turned down, clearly not a fan of the glare.
Journalists then joked that he should do a Marcelo Bielsa and look down. The Argentine had struck that pose during a World Cup-related photo shoot, an image that did the rounds across newsrooms everywhere.
Sarri took the comparison all the way. The 67-year-old Italian coach mimicked Bielsa by dropping his head in front of the photographers. The room broke into laughter, according to la Gazzetta dello Sport.
Try it for $0.99.
Not the Sarri Italy is used to
The moment is a throwaway one, but it says plenty about the mood around Atalanta right now. Sarri has only just arrived in Bergamo and is preparing for his first European fixture of the season. Lightening the mood before a tie like this is hardly standard fare for a coach better known for a dour stare than a grin in front of the press.
He built his reputation on tactical demands and on relationships with the media that were often anything but warm. Seeing him mess around with the usual script is a clear change from the image he had before.
Two legs to keep Europe alive
On the pitch, though, the job is serious enough. Atalanta have to get past Hapoel Tel-Aviv over two legs, with the first meeting set for Bergamo before the return in Israel.
Progress would give Sarri a full European campaign to go with his first season in charge. Go out at this stage, and there’d be a hole in the calendar and plenty of awkward questions within weeks of his arrival. A few laughs in a press room won’t change any of that.
Discover the rest of the football news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply