Canzi and Gama: We need to be perfect against PSG
Juventus Women travel to face Paris Saint-Germain this Thursday for the second leg of their Women's Champions League Round 2 qualification match, knowing there is still plenty of work to be done despite taking a 3-1 first-leg lead to France.
Kick-off in the French capital is at 18:45 CEST on Thursday, 26 September, and the Bianconere will be aiming for another performance as good as what they produced in Biella last week.
Coach Massimiliano Canzi and captain Sara Gama shared their thoughts ahead of the big game.
MASSIMILIANO CANZI
“It’s great to be here, it’s a privilege to be in a position to play a game of this importance. We know that in this second leg we cannot afford to make any mistakes.
“The girls did really well in the first leg. We knew that we had to play a perfect match, and we know we still have to do it again. The objective is of course to qualify, and to not think about how well we’ve done so far. We have to go there thinking that it’s a one-off game.
“We’re becoming a team now, we’ve been working together for two months now and we know we’re not yet at our best. We’ve been growing continuously until now, and we know that we’ll face tough moments and we’ll have to be good at overcoming those when they come.
“We know we have a huge opportunity here [going to Paris with a lead], the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come along often and we’ll need to be at our best to take it. We know it’ll be a tough game and that we’ll have to be very, very good to take a result home.”
SARA GAMA
“We played really well in the first leg. Above all, we were solid, and you have to be solid when you come up against big sides like Paris Saint-Germain, but we were also good going forward and clinical when we attacked. We believed in ourselves at all times, and so we got a really good result that we didn’t expect, but we went into that game only thinking about giving our very best and knowing that we couldn’t afford any mistakes, now ahead of the second leg we know, even more, that we cannot afford to make a single mistake.
“We know PSG will come at us strong, because they’re playing at home and because of how the first leg went. We know we have to be at our best again, we have to be strong, we have a lot of potential going forward and we know how to do harm. We’ll play all the cards we have to hurt PSG, while always trying to keep the right balance. We’ll need to use our heads in the second leg.
“This season has started well, and it’s no coincidence because we’ve worked a lot on our preparation, so that’s why we’ve started well. Of course, when you work well and the results come, you believe even more in the work you’re doing. So we’re building trust in the work we’re doing, in our teammates – which goes without saying – and we know that there’s still a lot to improve on.
“We did well in the first leg and it means nothing now. There’s still more than just finishing the job to do, there’s a lot to do [to win the tie]. But we know how well we’ve done in the first part of the process, there’s a strong desire for us to show the fruits of our labour.”