Baroni: ‘Lazio proved we are united’

BERGAMO, ITALY – APRIL 06: Marco Baroni, Head Coach of Lazio, looks on during the Serie A match between Atalanta and SS Lazio at Gewiss Stadium on April 06, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Marco Baroni feels Lazio proved to be ‘united’ in a 1-0 win against Atalanta and hopes Nuno Tavares’ injury is ‘nothing serious.’

The Biancocelesti beat direct rivals Atalanta in Bergamo on Sunday, keeping their Champions League qualification hopes alive.

“I’ll start with the team’s attitude and energy on the pitch. I want to congratulate the boys. Sometimes results are not ideal, but we are united as a group and we showed it today,” Baroni told Sky Sport Italia via TMW.

“The new players also made an important contribution today. Others are recovering so we’ll have the chance to rotate.”

The Biancocelesti needed a morale boost after just one point from the last two Serie A games, but they also had an eye on Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final against Bodo/Glimt, so they made numerous changes to the starting XI.

“I’ll never complain, but playing so many games in a short time is clearly not easy. There’s little time to work, so we’re now focusing on the final part of the season,” Baroni noted.

“We’re still in the race for Europe and the league because we’ve made everyone feel important. Today I saw the correct response. There will be matches we can’t afford to get wrong, but we are ready. We need the proper performance to achieve important results.”

It was a substitute who proved decisive. Gustav Isaksen came off the bench to slide in the only goal in Bergamo on a Fisayo Dele-Bashiru knockdown from the long Christos Mandas pass.

There was more bad news from the medical staff, because in his first start in a month, Nuno Tavares lasted just 34 minutes before limping off with a new muscular issue.

“We’ll see. He seemed fine. It may just be some fatigue. I don’t think it’s anything serious. At least I hope not,” said the Lazio boss.

Samuel Gigot also hobbled off in the final stages, but Oliver Provstgaard got to make his Serie A debut.

On the other hand, Taty Castellanos has recovered from an injury, but was spent the whole game on the bench.

“He’s a key player. We had planned to deploy him for 20 minutes, but it wasn’t possible given how the game was going,” Baroni concluded.

“He’s very important to us and we’ve missed him. Dia put in a good performance today, like everyone else. Dele-Bashiru is also improving. We are focused on the present. We’ve always had faith and now we have even more.”