His strike could have been the big win in the Derby dello Stretto. Palumbo’s equalizer with just the 90th minute left didn’t erase the great performance Messina put in at the “Granillo”. Giuseppe Tedesco , a guest on the show “Contropiede,” broadcast on Tcf, spoke about his emotions after Sunday’s match: “We knew we were facing a strong team, built to win the championship, who played with the support of their fans. Some people thought we should have been the sacrificial victim, but that wasn’t the case. It was the match we had to play, and we did it very well, it’s a shame about the final part. We had prepared for it this way: we were supposed to defend with a five-man defense, while when we pressed high up we changed to a 4-4-2. Against Enna , we had the wrong approach; if you have your head, your legs work too. A very serious setback occurred, and the result was shocking; there’s no point in hiding it. Looking ahead to the derby against Reggina, however, our goal was one: to give the city something to cheer about.”
In his debut as coach under Feola, the center forward broke the deadlock in the first half, following a corner, earning himself his third Messina win. The former Nardò player had already had a very positive feeling going into the match: “I’d been feeling it since Saturday morning. I told Paolo Pirri I’d score and go get it to celebrate in front of the away fans’ stand, even though it was closed to fans. In the end, our team manager came to me.”
During the 1-1 draw, the Giallorossi protested both the throw-in awarded to the Amaranto and Palumbo ‘s header , which he scored by tapping on Saverino. “In Paternò ,” Tedesco emphasized, ” I had a goal disallowed for something minor; in fact, I hadn’t even touched the opponent. In my opinion, the referee was influenced by the whole atmosphere; you couldn’t really talk to him on the pitch. The initial nervousness with Adejo ? I’m naturally becoming football-wise ignorant, but Coach Torrisi ‘s statement on Saturday didn’t sit well with me, as it did with all my teammates. In those moments, there were seven or eight of us, like a real team. I’ve been fortunate enough to play important matches in my career, and I automatically worked on my psychology: if we play the victim and suffer, then it’s over.”
Having snatched a point from their rivals, four points behind Vibonese and the safety net, Messina hopes to avoid the play-offs: “Before the match against Vibonese, we have three more games to play. Anything can happen, there are ten matchdays left, we’re in the final push. We need to look ahead, not behind, but we also need to be realistic and evaluate both. We need the three points against Sambiase , then we’ll talk about Castrum Favara . We need to build on the attitude we showed in Reggio; we can’t afford to let our nerves slide, like the boys did in the first half of the season until December. We’ll have to step up our focus in training this week; the final matches are the most important. Every game is tough, as Sancataldese’s defeat in Paternò proved . Playing there is complicated because of the narrow pitch; we struggled that time, but if we’d faced them at home, the differences in our technical prowess would have been more evident.”
