Reja slams media after quitting Lazio

Lazio’s outgoing manager Edy Reja confirmed he has quit the club despite leading them in the Europa League on Thursday.

Reja handed in his resignation before travelling to Spain to manage the team in the second leg of the tie against Atletico Madrid.

That may not be the end of the story, however, with the 66-year-old insisting that Lazio make the final judgment.

“I’ve already made my decision,” Reja said.

“Now we will go to Rome and I will wait for an answer from the club.”

A 48th-minute header from Diego Godin gave Atletico a 1-0 victory on Thursday, to complete a 4-1 win on aggregate over the Italians.

After the match Reja slammed the Italian media’s constant criticism of his team.

“The press and the media are those who don’t always judge Lazio in a positive way,” Reja said.

“They are always very critical, it is almost a part of Lazio’s history, while on the other side of the town (at Roma) all is good.”

“Since I joined Lazio, apart from the very first period, we have always been ahead of Roma and yet this has not been acknowledged.”

“When something goes wrong for us everything is thrown at us by the media.”

Lazio are currently fourth in the Serie A, four points ahead of fifth-placed Roma.

Reja added that Lazio’s players only care about their supporters from the blue half of the Italian capital.

“They have always shown their loyalty, they have always been on our side,” Reja said.

“At the beginning of the league, during the camp in Fiuggi, supporters’ representatives came to assure us of their support, irrelevant from the result and they are showing that.”

“Today there were 2,500 supporters who travelled to support the team despite knowing how hard the task was for us.”

Lazio’s next match is on Monday against Fiorentina although it is unclear who will lead them after Reja’s resignation.