Maurizio Sarri had wrestled all week with the question of whether to start Sergej Milinkovic-Savic against Salernitana. His Lazio team were soaring, up to third in Serie A and boasting the best defensive record in the division. A 2-0 win over the previously undefeated Atalanta, richly deserved despite the absence of top scorer Ciro Immobile, had put the manager back in the spotlight, the national media celebrating a rebirth of “Sarrismo” – Sarri-ism, often translated as Sarri-ball.
The manager was unaffected. In one interview he defended his enduring preference for wearing tracksuits, describing it as “the most natural thing in the world” to dress appropriately for your workplace and ridiculing under-19 coaches who wore jackets and trousers. In another he was asked to define Sarrismo. “I wouldn’t know what to call it,” he said. “Maybe my wife is the one who knows best how to define me: a grumpy man and a bit of a dickhead.”
