Sampdoria boss Sinisa Mihajlovic wants his team to close out 2014 with a win over Udinese at home and admits that it would be nice to enter the new year in third place.
The Blucerchiati, who currently sit one point behind third place Napoli with 26 points, will be hosting the Zebrette at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday and the tactician is hoping that his squad can remain focused on earning all three points ahead of the holiday break in order to continue their six-match unbeaten streak in the Serie A.
Mihajlovic spoke during his pre-match press conference on Saturday about the clash with the Udine side and praised Sampdoria’s impressive run this season thus far, while also commenting on the incredible talent possessed by Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale despite his age.
“I ask my team to conclude this year with a win over Udinese tomorrow,” said the 45-year-old. “It would be important to be back in third place and to convince ourselves that we can do well in 2015.
“We have done so much already, drawing with AC Milan, Juventus and Roma, we deserved a bit more in the standings but we missed out on some more points because we were not quite convinced yet.
“If we win we would have 15 days to spend with a smile and third place in our pocket.
“The boys know that I will not accept any type of distraction, if I see anyone losing concentration and thinking about the holidays then I will change my mind about using them.
“Tomorrow I would like to see the Marassi full, I want it to be like a zoo, because we’ll never need their help beating Udinese as much as we will tomorrow, and I want to be able to thank my boys for everything they’ve done.
“Di Natale? We are all familiar with his talent, he’s an extraordinary player and remains one of the best despite his age.
“When I was working in Florence we wanted to bring Di Natale to Fiorentina, but some of the coaches were saying that he was too old.
“Since then he has played for five more years and has scored a lot of goals in that time.”
