Baroni: ‘Positive Lazio, Dele-Bashiru can be great’ | OneFootball

Marco Baroni has high hopes for Fisayo Dele-Bashiru to become ‘a great modern midfielder’ and is glad to see ‘positive’ Lazio football in their Europa League win over Dynamo Kyiv.

This was the first ever game in UEFA tournaments for the coach at the age of 61, but he got a dream debut with a 3-0 victory away from home.

It was technically played on neutral turf in Hamburg, due to the on-going situation in Ukraine, but is still an idea result to begin the new expanded Europa League tournament.

Boulaye Dia scored twice, while Dele-Bashiru both found the net and provided an assist in a more advanced trequartista role.

“We are trying to play positive football, the team must have in mind the need to attack and go for goal,” Baroni told Sky Sport Italia.

“The only way to handle four attacking players is for everyone to run hard and stay solid, which so far the team is doing well. Along with Juventus, we are the side in Serie A who allowed the fewest shots on goal.”

Baroni working on Dele-Bashiru

Before kick-off, Baroni had said that the player he was expecting a lot from tonight was Dele-Bashiru, who was moved to a more advanced trequartista role.

He got his wish, because the midfielder both scored and provided an assist for the Dia free header.

“When I say that he needs to be built, I mean that he must focus more on tactics and how to fill the game rather than only when the ball is at his feet. Once he gets that, Dele-Bashiru will become a great modern midfielder.”

Former Verona boss Baroni is a newcomer to European football, but has no intention of changing his general approach to football.

“I’ve never had a squad with this much quality, so I am seeking mobility to create superiority on the pitch. We are working hard in training and all share this vision. They believe in this work and that makes everything easier.

“I am accustomed to working with young players and that often means taking the responsibility and pressure off their shoulders. The players should feel the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.”

There was some very harsh refereeing tonight from Tasos Sidiropoulos, who showed straight red cards to both Maksym Braharu and Tijjani Noslin, even though their fouls seemed largely accidental.

“Noslin was naïve, but he is such a good guy that he’ll learn from it,” added Baroni.

“We only really ran risks after going 3-0 up and I saw the desire to keep that clean sheet against a quality Dynamo Kyiv side. It was not an easy match and the team had the right approach.”