Cagliari also made a strong impression in the Coppa Italia, despite having to wait until the 67th minute to take the definitive lead against Frosinone. A 4-1 win at Unipol Domus qualified the Rossoblu for the round of 16 —where they will travel to Napoli—and Fabio Pisacane secured his third consecutive win in both the league and cup. "When you talk about rotation, you also have to take into account that some players need to be deployed to get a certain amount of playing time," the coach commented immediately after the match. "It wasn't easy, playing at 5 p.m., trying to get into shape in a humid climate, but that's no excuse. It's normal that if we had started with other players, I would have done the team and management a disservice. Today, advancing was the main thing, but I'm happy with how it all turned out."
In the first half, Cagliari, who had broken the deadlock in the second minute, struggled before finally taking the lead after Borrelli's 2-1. "I think that, compared to Lecce, we had ten new players," Pisacane points out. "These guys needed to get playing time, but it's also true that if you win, you've done the minimum and that's what you had to do. If you don't win, the world falls apart . I'm focusing on balance and staying upright, pursuing a strategy that we knew would lead to some difficulties. Many players were struggling to recover today, I don't want to name names." What is certain, however, is that Cagliari today "didn't really let up, they just struggled with some players' fitness."
Among the new players is Zé Pedro, making his starting debut: "He played a good match, that's why we chose him, and he can give us a boost in certain aspects of his game." But Pisacane isn't entirely satisfied with the defensive side: " When opponents enter the final third of the pitch, it's not just the defenders' fault; in certain situations, we made mistakes with the attackers . The difficulties in the first half were clear for all to see: they were long and lacked the desire to get the ball out on certain plays." On the other hand, Felici gave other excellent signs: "He's given specific requests to showcase his quality."
Saturday's big match against Inter, also at home. "We work to take away positive and negative aspects from every match, regardless of the opponent or the result. As for Saturday's big match, we did what we had to do today: the goal was to advance, and that adds to the positives. Then, on Saturday, we have an opponent who needs no introduction . We're pleased with how we've rotated the players and how we're playing."