Sarri: "This Is A European Competition For Lazio And We Want To Prove Ourselves Even Though There Are Teams Stronger Than Us In This Tournament."

Lazio will travel to Portugal to face FC Porto in the play-off round of 16 which will take place on Thursday (17/02) evening local time.  Coach Maurizio Sarri admits that this competition is not his top priority.

Maurizio Sarri was unable to bring his regular striker, Ciro Immobile, away to Porto for the play-off round of 16 of the Europa League.  He admitted that he was not a fan of this tournament, Immobile was unable to participate in the Biancoceleste trip due to a high fever last Tuesday night.

"But we will play with 11 men as in other occasions without Immobile," explained the coach in his press conference quoted by Football-Italia.

"We will find a solution, I don't know if he can recover in time against Udinese, we'll see how he develops, but even though he's not in ideal conditions, his presence is still needed."

"FC Porto is a very strong team, very organized and fresh, they have some experienced players and interesting young players like Vitinho and Vieira.  They've only lost twice this season, so that proves everything."

The Biancoceleste have yet to give their best in the Europa League competition this season and Sarri is not hiding that this is not his top priority, even though he won it with Chelsea.

"It's a very tiring competition, you end it on Thursday night at 23.00 and don't have the chance to postpone your weekend game until Monday," he said.

"Chelsea was built to win the Europa League with 30 players all at the same level.  This is a European competition for Lazio and we want to prove ourselves even though there are teams stronger than us in this tournament.

"It is a valuable opportunity for the club to play at this level."