Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali recently gave an extensive interview to Tuttosport, touching on various aspects of the club, including standout players and future ambitions.
Carnevali recalled the 2006 World Cup victory, highlighting Fabio Grosso`s role.
“Grosso is an example, and I notice the significant recognition he carries from his playing days. However, I am convinced that in time he will be remembered primarily for the sporting results achieved from the bench, because I consider Fabio a coach of great quality.”
Speaking about Domenico Berardi, a key figure for the club:
“He is our flag: as a club, we always want to continue with him because he is a champion. But let me say one thing: my greatest wish is that Berardi can be useful to the national team again. He has recovered well from his injury, and my desire is for him to return to the `Azzurri` setup because I believe that right now Italy needs him too.”
Asked about Francesco Acerbi`s refusal of a national team call-up, Carnevali commented:
“To be honest, I can`t judge what happened. What is certain is that for Acerbi to refuse to go to the national team, something must have happened before, but I have no idea what background reasons there might be to explain what occurred.”
Carnevali described hosting the Italian national team at the Mapei Stadium as “the icing on the cake” following Sassuolo`s return to Serie A.
“It`s an extra reason to celebrate after the promotion. Plus, it`s an important event for a city that deserves to host the national team. Above all, though, it rewards the quality of our stadium: today there`s much talk about owned stadiums, and ours reflects the continuity of the path that has led us in recent years to host the national team, the U21s, Atalanta`s Europa League matches, and a Coppa Italia final. This is thanks to a state-of-the-art facility for hosting international events.”
Regarding the past season in Serie B, Carnevali preferred to label it a “season of successes” rather than a period of difficulty.
“I would rather speak of a season of successes because we secured promotion with five matches to spare, we had a significant gap over third place, Laurienté was top scorer… So, this was just a year of positive thoughts, of great joys for everything we did after putting the past season behind us.”
Looking ahead to the challenging return to Serie A, Carnevali outlined the primary goal:
“We are working to return to the levels we are used to, given that Sassuolo had eleven consecutive years in Serie A. However, we are aware that a difficult championship awaits us, so primarily we will have to think about survival.”
