In Maurizio Sarri's case, this is not exactly the case. However, even the Lazio coach has understood that good play does not have to be at odds with defensive solidity. It is a lesson that the volcanic Tuscan coach has learnt over time, season after season, constantly dedicating himself to improving in what, at the beginning of his career, was his weak point.
His latest creation is, thus, also the second-best defence in the Serie A league (15 goals conceded), tied with Juventus and behind only that of the leading Napoli side (14). Yes, Sarri's team has conceded the same number of goals as Massimiliano Allegri's pragmatic one.
And it is precisely the Bianconeri who are the only team to have kept their goal untouched more times (12) than Lazio (10). Numbers that, in other times, allowed the capital club to proclaim themselves champions of Italy. And yes, because even the team coached by Sven Goran Eriksson in the 1999-2000 season, that of the second Scudetto, after 18 league games, had managed not to concede a goal in ten matches.
Only the Lazio of the first title, the one led by Tommaso Maestrelli and on the pitch by Giorgio Chinaglia managed to do better (11) in the club's entire history.
Sarri's team is also the only one not to have conceded a single goal in the first half-hour of play: a clear demonstration of how, defensive solidity aside, Lazio's strength is above all mental. Because it's not easy to take the field always at full concentration.
And if it is true that Milan are not going through their best moment of form, it is also true that, last year, in three matches, Stefano Pioli's team scored eight goals against the biancocelesti. It is no coincidence that, after the 3-0 loss to Rafa Leao and his teammates in the Super Cup derby, Sarri was keen to stress that he was ''even more worried. A strong team that takes three slaps will have a great reaction. I would have been happier with a 3-0 win for them''.
Tomorrow evening, on the pitch at the Olimpico, there will be much more than three points at stake, between two teams who, by now, have the same objective, qualification for the next Champions League: "It's an important match, because if we win we're one point away," assured Elseid Hysaj, at the end of the Coppa Italia match against Bologna. ''And if we lose it is dangerous because we might think we are far away and, instead, we would still be there.''