Udinese, Udinese, only Udinese: in Thiago Motta’s mind today there is only this. But where’s the surprise? Although he is indecipherable (and indigestible) to his opponents on the pitch, Motta in the press room is an open book of which all the chapters are already known. In short, a script that is almost always obvious, excluding the times in which the coach needed to convey a strong message, as he did in August to give an acceleration to the market, and recently, after Frosinone, to kick the poisoned ball into the stands of pressures. When it comes to pressure, nothing has changed, even after the feat at the Olimpico. Perfect match with Roma? No: “I looked at it again, as I always do – says the coach –. Ours was a good performance, but when we have the ball in the opponent’s midfield we can be better at finding solutions.”
Even more so, his boys will have to be so tomorrow, against an Udinese team that was gigantic in the first leg, scoring a deadly 3-0 (it was December 30th) but now, with the new technical guidance of Cannavaro, immediately frustrated by the last-gasp knockout in injury time with Roma, it is likely that at Dall’Ara he will barricade himself in the fort looking for spaces on the restart. Nothing that could scare a man who doesn’t want to hear about the future (the age-old, and now declassified, question of contract renewal) nor about the arithmetic certainties linked to qualification for a European competition. To those in the press room who point out that by winning tomorrow his Bologna would be certain of being able to win any cup, he addresses a stern look: “Udinese: for me there is nothing else”.
Imagine if the catchphrase that has been going around for weeks can find space in his thoughts, namely: Will Motta stay or leave Bologna in a month? You can’t break the wall even by trying to make a wide turn: Thiago, what are the fans who stop you on the street asking you? “They tell me well done, they compliment us and ask us to continue like this until the end.” And do his players ever ask him what he will do in June? “No, never: my players only think about Udinese.” He thinks about it a lot too, of course. And he keeps it short: “They will often try to close themselves off and we will have to be good at managing this aspect. On the pitch we will have to keep our ears open but above all we will have to play the best game of the season”. All “to give another joy to our fans”: the same ones that the coach went to greet at the gates yesterday before leaving Casteldebole.
But he wouldn’t be Thiago if he didn’t always have a thought for the last ones: “I saw Soumaoro again on the pitch and I saw him very well. Ask those who worked with him to recover him (at Isokinetic, ed.): Adama was the first to arrive and the last to leave. With this desire I am sure he will return to play at a high level.” The rest is praise of flexibility: “Learning many roles helps. I was lucky enough to play with Messi, who if they had put him in defense would have become the best defender in the world. If he made that small sacrifice, anyone can make it “.
