SS Lazio have officially communicated that Maurizio Sarri has resigned and that the team has now been handed to his assistant Giovanni Martusciello who will be manager just for the game against Frosinone.
Apparently, Sarri talked to the players after the defeat against Cagliari underlining the fact that many are underperforming and not listening to his indications. Speaking after the game against Frosinone, Martusciello stated that Sarri realised that he needed to get a reaction from the players and there were only three possibilities: resignation, sacking or adding two more years to his current contract. He chose the first.
Danilo Cataldi, also speaking after the Frosinone game, stated that a group of players tried to convince him to stay, but Sarri had made up his mind. Some members of the staff also resigned, whereas a few stayed including Martusciello. “I gave my availability to stay because I saw a group and a club that needed it because there was not a lot of time to find a new coach”. Sarri’s former assistant was on the bench for the game against Frosinone, third keeper Luigi Sepe acted as his assistant during the match.
Sarri arrived at Lazio in 2021 reaching a Europa League qualification in his first year and a second place finish last season. The Biancocelesti are currently ninth, many miles away from Champions League qualification, have just been eliminated by Bayern Munich in Champions League, and have yet to play the Coppa Italia semi-final against Juventus.
In the match against Udinese, he seemed to be in a state of confusion as he took off Felipe Anderson after a good first half and then, 2-1 down, the only playmaker in the team, Danilo Cataldi, for Daichi Kamada, forcing Matias Vecino to move to the centre of midfield, hence taking away the only midfielder capable of scoring inside the box. The Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto substitutions also raised eyebrows.
Giovanni Martusciello was born on August 19, 1971, in Ischia. He had a long footballing career with two years in Serie A with Empoli and a goal against Lazio in a game in 1997 as highlights.
He started his managerial career at Empoli as assistant of the Primavera team. He became number two coach of the first team in 2010 helping out Alfredo Aglietti and stayed in this role for the following season too, despite four changes of manager. When Maurizio Sarri took over at Empoli he became part of the technical team and reprised his role as assistant when Marco Giampaolo was nominated head coach.
Martusciello took over the full managerial duties for the 2016-17 season. From 2017 to 2019 he worked for Inter as technical collaborator and when Sarri was called to coach Juventus, he became his assistant, a role he kept when Sarri moved to Rome.
He will be paid until the end of the season.
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