Ferrara: "In Milan with the same spirit"
On the eve of the Coppa Italia match against Inter, Ciro Ferrara held his usual press conference, answering the questions made by the journalists with regards to the team’ current moment but above all about his personal situation.
I always face the music. There is no need of courage to be here today and on the bench tomorrow. I am aware of the situation but also of my role that keeps me from hiding. I have nothing to be ashamed of and must accept criticism and controversy. I always face the music in good or bad moments.
I never thought of resigning. I did not receive any communication with regards to my sacking from the club. I come to the field every day with the same spirit and professionalism, with respect towards the club to which I gave a lot but from which I also received a lot, last but not least the opportunity to coach. It never crossed my mind to resign, and this out of respect for the club. I always made my choices in good conscience and will go ahead even though I know that the results are not proving me right.
I do not feel isolated. If I felt that the team, the club and the atmosphere is against me I would have thought of resigning but it is not like this. I still have the objective of changing the route and improving the current situation.
I owe Juventus very much. Do not try to make me say anything bad about Juventus. I would not say anything against even if the club had already taken the decision to sack me. This does not interest me. I have been here since 1994 and before being a coach I was a director and a player. In 1994 I had various opportunities and I was ever convinced I made the right choice. Now if we are in a difficult situation I must accept this but I will not speak against the club.
I work with professionals. I am convinced I have professionals working with me. The lads know they have a coach who will not give up right to the very end and I am sure they will do the same.
Thanks Mourinho. I got to know of Mourinho’s words of esteem in my regard. I was pleased and I thank him.
I do not feel sacked. I do not feel sacked and I do not even feel I have been taken advantage of for the work undertaken in the last few days because the club pays me for my work. I know the people I have in front of me and I know what kind of club I have behind me.
The current situation. The reasons for the current situation? The reasons may be many and I could even find alibis but I do not want to use them. This experience will be useful for me in the future. These six months at Juventus are as worth as ten years somewhere else.
Not only Juve have injuries. We suffered many injuries last year and as many this year, but from what I gather we are not the only ones to have this problem. Besides, one must distinguish between muscular injuries and those suffered during matches.
Inter-Juventus. These sort of matches prepare themselves and you do not need to tell the boys anything. For us the Coppa Italia is an important objective. We faced colourful fixtures against Napoli and Inter. We will go to San Siro to try and play at the best of our qualities and with our current strength to try and make the match ours and win. Inter remains the team to beat and we will try to do so.
The cure. At this moment there is need of everything from psychological condition to tactical intelligence, courage and good play. Inter always risks and concedes something and we must try.
An important result for the team. The result is only important because if we win we will proceed in the Coppa Italia and nor for my situation. Should I expect an embrace from the team? Let us start by scoring and winning. These things are of secondary importance.
I did not lose my self-esteem. There were difficult days for me and it is useless denying this. I tried to evaluate everything while trying to be as serene as possible. At the end I thought that not even a negative moment could make me lose my smile and self-esteem.
The supporters are still close to us. A supporter loves his team and the negative moments effect everyone but I continue to feel their closeness, just like in 1998 when I found it hard to recover from my injury.
A Boniperti called-up. Filippo is used to having such an important surname. Now and again he joined us during training but this is the first call-up for him. He will be a bit excited.
A class act he is. Here's the list of those called up.
For the Coppa Italia match against Inter on Thursday night, Ciro Ferrara called-up 20 players, including 3 Primavera youths: Marrone, Giandonato e Filippo Boniperti.
Del Piero and Salihamidzic will be absent. The captain will be absent due to the viral gastroenteritis which truck him in the past few days. The Bosnian will miss the match due to a muscular injury suffered yesterday for which reason he underwent further tests which showed an elongation of the left medial muscle. The prognosis is that of about 20 days.
Below is the complete list of players called-up:
1 Buffon
3 Chiellini
4 Felipe Melo
5 Cannavaro
6 Grosso
11 Amauri
12 Chimenti
13 Manninger
15 Zebina
21 Grygera
22 Sissoko
26 Candreva
27 Paolucci
28 Diego
29 De Ceglie
32 Yago
33 Legrottaglie
36 Giandonato
39 Marrone
43 Boniperti
SEMPRE JUVE!!