Serie A 21/22: Venezia - Empoli postmatch

After going down a goal to visitors Empoli, Venezia raised their performance in the second half, and debutant Luís Nani would set up David Okereke for an equalizer within two minutes of stepping onto the pitch, but they could not find a winner and would settle for a 1-1 draw in Giornata 22 of the 2021/22 Serie A season.

Venezia manager Paolo Zanetti:

“In the second half, I saw the team as I would have liked to see them in the first half, too. Reacting to a goal is a sign of quality and willpower, and we demonstrated this without losing our identity today.

Nani gave us a lot — he came in and made the difference. I trust that he can become an example for our younger players, to understand how to approach the game and have fun.

Obviously, missing players due to Covid has penalized us, but I don't want this to be an excuse. The truth is that we should have approached the entire game as we did the second half.

If we manage to become more competitive mentally, I think we will be able to achieve our goals.”

Venezia attacker Nani:

“I think my debut was good. The team did its best, but we have to work to improve further. I think Serie A is the best league in the world, and I'm more than happy to be able to play here.

I'm not in the best physical condition, but when you really want to do something good, you always succeed.”

In the second half, we were more aggressive, and we could have taken the lead. We believed in it, but we didn't take advantage of our chances.”