At the end of the match between Venezia FC and Sampdoria, valid for the twelfth round of Serie BKT, which ended 3–1 in favor of the home side, coach Giovanni Stroppa and defender Antoine Hainaut shared their thoughts on the game.

Giovanni Stroppa, Venezia FC head coach:
“Today I got the answers I was expecting. I’m sorry about the goal we conceded because there was that moment in the match when we tried to play too delicately. After that, we put things back in order, so I have to congratulate the players — they really put in a great performance.
The break will help us recover some players and get more minutes into others’ legs. We have to keep working even harder to be ready when play resumes.

It’s easy to talk after the fact, but the team trains very well, there’s the right mentality. Of course, there are some mistakes, because without them, we’d have a better position in the standings.
We need to be sharper — mentally and technically — because with the level of play this team can produce, we should be taking home more points. I’m proud and happy to coach this team, but it frustrates me when we leave something on the field. When we don’t do things the right way, it gets under my skin a bit.

At home or away, I don’t think our performances really change. Last Sunday in Catanzaro we didn’t play at the same level as we did in Empoli or Pescara. It’s the small moments that make the difference — once we start managing those moments and find consistency, we’ll be able to think and talk differently.”

Antoine Hainaut, Venezia FC defender:
“I’m happy both for the win and for the goal — it’s an important one, and I dedicate it to my family, especially my sister, whose birthday is today. I’m really satisfied to have helped the team take all three points; today, winning was crucial.

VAR took a little bit of the emotion out of celebrating with the fans, but we just had to wait a moment before bursting into joy with the whole stadium. Over the past week, we worked hard on fine-tuning the details of our play, and tonight we brought that work onto the pitch. Now we have the break, but we’ll keep training hard to be ready for the derby against Padova.”