Cittadella-Pisa: the probable formations
It’s August football, but now it’s serious. After the dress rehearsal a week ago, which left the decidedly negative score and an opaque performance in the eyes and in the mind, Pisa is ready to dive into the championship. Saturday 13th August, at 8.45 pm, the Sporting Club will challenge the Cittadella at the Tombolato on the first day of the new season. The first step of a journey that everyone hopes will be as exciting as the one that ended on May 29th, perhaps with a decidedly different ending. On paper, the potential is all there. The squad has been revised and restructured: the departures have been many, the farewells with long-time captains have left a strong mark, but the arrivals have helped to raise the overall level of the staff. To guide him there is a technician who in Serie B, according to his career, was only passing through. So let’s say it all together, united by the passion for the two colors that make the heart of an entire city and province beat very fast: go Pisa!
Without alibi
Rolando Maran doesn’t want to hear about alibis or excuses: “Do we have several defections between injuries and suspensions? Amen, it’s part of the game. It means that we won’t have any in a short time. Direct competitors for promotion to Serie A? Probably, but the harmony between the individuals and between the departments is created only by playing. The Nerazzurri coach is spring loaded and continues: “I am convinced of the strength of my team. I don’t see any weaknesses. We must take the field and interpret all the games with the air of a strong team: we want to impose play and rhythm against all opponents. Then, if they’re better than us, we’ll shake their hand. But we will certainly never leave defeated: when we need to roll up our sleeves, we will do it; when we have to get our hands and face dirty, we won’t back down. “
That’s why, albeit with the absences of Nagy, Beruatto, Calabresi (all three due to disqualification), Rus and Torregrossa (in the process of recovering from their respective injuries, without forgetting captain Caracciolo struggling with rehabilitation after the reconstruction of the right knee crusader), Pisa will try to start on the right foot tomorrow. “We have too many stimuli – underlines Maran – starting from the fool he remedied at home in the Italian Cup. The defeat against Brescia burns, even if it came in a match with a low specific weight. Tomorrow we will do everything to leave the field with a other result. We know what to do on the pitch. ” The mantra of the Nerazzurri coach is “to make a virtue of necessity. It is useless to dwell on who will not be there: we will have to be good at getting the most out of those who will play from the first minute or taking over from race to race”.
A possible candidate for the starting shirt is the Portuguese full-back Esteves: “He has trained well with the group since the beginning of the week. He has recovered from his injury and will be able to dare to contribute”. Whoever, on the other hand, will surely take the field from 1 ‘despite having arrived for not two days is the mezzala Arturo Ionita: “I know him very well, and he knows just as well what tasks I require of the players who play that role. He is ready, he is trained and in condition”. In goal Nicolas has recovered from the knee problem accused in the cup and will be regularly in his place. Instead, forced choices in defense where, in addition to Esteves, Hermannsson, Canestrelli and Jureskin on the left will play. More choice from the half court up. The doubt is between a median full of muscles and running composed by Tourè, Marin and Ionita, or a direction with good feet by Mastinu flanked by the Romanian and the Moldovan. In the first case, the Sardinian mezzala will be positioned on the trocar together with Sibilli in support of Masucci.
The referee and the curiosity of the match
Directs Luca Zufferli from Udine: with him on the pitch, Pisa achieved a victory and a draw in Serie C, between 2017 and 2018. The Nerazzurri have never been refereed by the Friulian whistle in the cadet. Tomorrow will be the eleventh match at the Cittadella: the balance highlights 4 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw. In the last match, played in November 2021, the Nerazzurri were defeated 2-0 at the end of an insufficient and one-way match: three were expelled from the ranks of Pisa (Lucca, Tourè and Nagy).
The probable formations
Citadel (4-3-1-2): Kastrati; Donnarumma, Perticone, Frare, Cassandro; Branca, Pavan, Vita; Antonucci; Asencio, Tounkara. All. Gorini
Pisa (4-3-2-1): Nicolas; Esteves, Hermannsson, Canestrelli, Jureskin; Tourè, Marin, Ionita; Mastino, Sibilli; Masucci. All. Marano