Amidst the scrappy play at the Picco Stadium, Mattia Perin emerged as one of the main stars of the show. In his rare starting appearance, the second-fiddle goalkeeper proved to be up to the task, preserving another clean sheet.
The former Genoa custodian pulled off two great saves at the end of the match, denying Spezia’s Emmanuel Gyasi and Dimitrios Nikolaou.
After the match, the Italian explained that his experience was behind his spectacular save on Gyasi, as he was able to anticipate the shot’s direction.
“It’s all about the experience, I understood that he could only have put it in that corner,” said Perin in his post-match interview with DAZN via Calciomercato.
The goalkeeper also heaped praise on his teammate Angel Di Maria who came off the bench to seal the win with a second goal. He says the Argentine is one of the best players he has ever had as a teammate.
“Di Maria is a champion with a Capital C, at the top of world football, among the best I’ve ever played with. When he does these things, you can only applaud him.”
Finally, the shot-stopper suggests that the squad has improved as a unit following the severe point deduction.
“We have to improve a lot, we know it, but the non-football events have given us a huge hand.
“I thought we were a great group before, but we’re even more united now. We know we deserve much more than what the table shows.
“We bring home points for the crest we have on our chest and we can still achieve something beautiful.”
