Reja eyeing Champions League berth

Lazio head coach Edoardo Reja said he is targeting Champions League football ahead of his side’s match with Palermo on Sunday.

Reja’s side are enjoying a good season and are only five points behind Serie A leaders AC Milan.

Despite a growing number of injury concerns, Reja hopes Lazio can remain in the top three and secure a Champions League place next season..

“We’ll be doing our best to achieve third place in the table, which would allow us to play in the Champions League,” Reja said.

“In the first four matches of the second round of the championship we have gained nine points in total: we have won three matches and have been defeated in Genoa.”

“Despite the efforts and the problems of the players, which haven’t allowed me to make certain substitutions, we have performed better than other teams.”

However, Reja has several injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s trip to Palermo, with Lazio looking particularly bare at the back.

“We have many issues especially in our defence. On top of this, I still don’t know if Andre Dias will be ready,” Reja said.

“We’ll make some evaluations not only concerning Dias, but also Maruis Stankevicius, since he has some problems and this morning he wasn’t able to walk.”

“I don’t know if some anti-inflammatory medications may allow him to be available, at least on the bench; even for a couple of minutes he could be very useful.”

“Right now I can’t tell anything for sure. We’ll see everyone’s condition after today afternoon and tomorrow morning and then I’ll be deciding the formation.”

“Dias is the only player, who may recover for tomorrow. Then there are Luciano Zauri, Lionel Scaloni and other players, who may not be perfect to cover the role of the central defender, but they’re able to adapt to it for a match.”