Lazio coach Stefano Pioli called on his players to shown some pride and effort after they were beaten 3-0 at home by Sparta Prague and eliminated from the Europa League.
The Aquile boss accepted that his team deserved to be eliminated but he now wants to see a reaction as the squad looks to redeem itself at the end of a disappointing season.
“We were responsible for what happened as good as the opposition were,” said Pioli to Sky Sport Italia. “We made too many mistakes, you can’t go two goals down after 12 minutes.
“It all became too difficult from that point and it decided everything which was a shame.
“It meant that the other team were better than us after all of our mistakes.
“We have been working on things but we still haven’t found a remedy, we wanted to go through and we are disappointed now but we messed that game up.
“We must now show a lot of pride in the league to show that we can still express ourselves.”
The Italian was also asked if he feels it will be difficult to motivate his players after Lucas Biglia described the performance as a ‘disgrace’.
“Yes, certainly, it’s a negative time for us and I will have to do well to work on the players’ heads,” added Pioli.
