Chivu: "Proud of my players, they just defended. Well done to the youngsters, happy for Carboni"

The imperative was to win. To continue hoping to qualify for the round of 16 of this Club World Cup, to avoid a bad showing against the Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds and to give some confidence to a team that is still clearly far from the plan of its new coach. And in the end, after 90 minutes of sterile football, the objective was achieved. "The Japanese played a good match, we tried in every way to create confusion for a very organised team - Chivu himself analysed immediately after the match -. It was a serious match. With the entry of Pio Esposito I also looked for something in the aerial game, and in the end we managed to bring it home believing in it until the end. The boys made me proud, they gave everything they had. Carboni? I could say many things about him, but I'll say that I'm happy because he was returning from a long injury. Just as I'm happy with Pio Esposito, Luis Henrique and Sucic". On a tactical level, Chivu glosses over it: "Talking about modules and systems against a team that defended in the area is difficult. I liked the search for width and the attack in depth in the first half, I would have left that module in the second half at 0-0. Instead we put in the second striker to better fill the area and make more use of crosses".