Oreste Cinquini is one of the most important figures in Italian football, achieving great results throughout his career, but one of his most significant experiences was certainly with Lazio.
He worked with Biancocelesti from 2002 to 2004, winning an Italian Cup and bringing in important players. He did not work with Claudio Lotito, but with the previous presidents: Sergio Cragnotti and Ugo Longo.
In those years Cinquini also worked with Simone Inzaghi, of whom he spoke to Tribalfootball exclusively: "I didn't think Inzaghi could become a coach at all, he is a fantastic person who has always had a particular character. He has matured enormously and surprised me a lot, I have to congratulate him, really. I call him Inzaghino, not Simone, with affection. He has done exceptional things for Lazio."
The former Lazio sporting director also wanted to focus on the work of Lotito and Igli Tare, the current sporting director: "Great work of president Lotito, highly criticised but he has healed the club and brought it to stratospheric levels, but above all Tare, a director who knows how to choose players, has chosen a lot of players, spending little and achieving a lot. Honour to him and Lazio."
And a joke about one of his great regrets as a manager: "I remained attached to Lazio, but I have a regret: in 6 derbies I never won one, even once (Francesco) Antonioli saved the result by saving a (Sinisa) Mihajlovic shot, the funny thing is that I sold Antonioli to Roma when I was at Bologna. Great regret (laughs)."
Returning to the present, it is not yet clear if Serie A will restart and if the football will start rolling again, but we asked Cinquini for an opinion, on in his opinion if Lazio could win the Scudetto: "It will be a whole other Serie A, nothing will be like before. Before the championship stopped, Lazio had excellent chances of winning the championship, playing fantastic football. They never won by chance or for luck, but always with their football, as a team, with a soul, for the desire to win, with the collective. They had inertia from them, they could really win the Scudetto at the time. Juventus remained the favorite anyway, but Lazio could play it to the end."
There is a great debate going on in Serie A, between Lega Calcio, FIGC and the Government, led by Giuseppe Conte: is it right to start playing again?
Cinquini said: "I think so, but we have to do it slowly. There are not only players in clubs, there are 50/60 other people, at least, who work in a club. Locking them in a sporting center is good for Serie A clubs (and not even all Serie A clubs can afford it, Napoli does not have rooms for everyone, for example).
"I hope it will start again later, we have plenty of time, the time limit in to end the season has been moved to 2 August, without European and national cups it will be possible to play on Sunday, Wednesday and again on Sunday. The most important thing is to restart safely. If they found people infected in a club, would they be considered unavailable as it was a normal injury? But is it not possible, what if he infected his companions? Or the opponents of the game before, or a week before? I don't mean that it will be possible to restart with tranquility, but at least with serenity, when you risk a little less."
He added: "We can't complain, we are talking about football, we are fine, but there are people who have lost their lives and football must respect them, it must respect every dead person. Let us remember that the elders who died for Covid fought to give us our freedom. About the fans on the stands: until the vaccine there will be no fans. Think of Atalanta-Valencia, which may have been a vehicle for the virus."
