Messina captain Sergio Garufi celebrated his second consecutive home win, a crucial step towards avoiding direct relegation and securing a play-off spot: “At the end of the match, I saw unrestrained determination on my teammates’ faces. We had to win, and we’re happy to have done it on the pitch in front of our fans for the last time this season, but now we’ll have the most important week of the year to stay up in Ragusa . We have the quality to do it, especially since it will potentially be a long game lasting ninety minutes, plus a possible thirty minutes if the score is tied after 90 minutes. Having only the win is better because you know you have to go full steam ahead, without making too many calculations.”
For the 30-year-old from Giarre, who has made 34 appearances this season, also providing two assists, it will be a challenge against his former teammates: “I’m very proud of the team and my teammates. At the start of the year, with a 14-point deficit , I would have put a lot of effort into a play-off , and we even got there with a good run of results. Sure, we had laid the foundations to avoid relegation, but then a somewhat shaky month and a half held us back. I don’t think about my past in Ragusa; it won’t be a game like all the others, but now I’m playing against Messina and I absolutely have to save them. I don’t think much about the two previous matches this season: they really don’t matter; Sunday will be a new challenge. Whoever decided to come here from day one wanted to achieve this important goal .”
