Serie BKT 2026/27 | Coach Marco Baroni's comments ahead of #VeronaAscoli

Verona - Statements from Hellas Verona head coach Marco Baroni, made on the eve of Hellas Verona-Ascoli, the matchday 1 fixture of the 2026/27 Serie BKT season, scheduled for Sunday, August 23 at 7PM at the Bentegodi Stadium.

On Sunday, the club will hold a major initiative to commemorate Osvaldo Bagnoli. You knew him and experienced the final years of his career on the pitch. What memories do you have of him? And, in your opinion, was he a coach who brought something new to Italian football at the time?
"I've already said it, so I'll repeat myself: he was an extraordinary coach, capable of achieving something incredible. You only had to see and read between the lines of what his players said to understand the greatness of this man, who did something unique. He was certainly an innovator because, beyond the incredible achievement, that Verona side played with great courage, enthusiasm, joy, dedication and passion, but above all with a great sense of togetherness. Those who experienced those years can understand the tremendous amount of work he put in. I believe he should be honoured every Sunday. The memory of a man who made history and who will forever be a legend remains indelible."

What are your certainties, what are your ambitions and, on the other hand, what are your concerns?
"When you start a new journey, you need to know where you want to get to. Every journey has a direction, and we have given the team that direction. We know there will be difficulties along the way, but they must be faced and overcome, always following that direction and with conviction. At the moment, I can say that I have confidence in the team's work because they are working with dedication, concentration and great attention. I am convinced that tomorrow they will deliver the best performance they are capable of."

The Verona are being tipped by many as one of the favourites in this Serie B season. Do you feel that responsibility?
"We are being considered among the favourites also because people think that a team relegated from Serie A must necessarily be a favourite. But I already told you in my first press conference: there have been several relegated teams that subsequently dropped another division. I am not used to looking at these things. I see a difficult league, with strong and very well-organised teams and young coaches who have brought new ideas. It will be a competitive and difficult championship. You only have to look at yesterday's opening game. There is a lot of work to do, that's for sure. The only certainty I have is precisely this: we have to work hard, together with the players."

What is the recipe for getting off to a good start tomorrow, also considering the enthusiasm of a newly promoted side?
"First of all, we are facing a dangerous team, with a good coach who, throughout the journey he has taken, has been able to give his team organisation and make sure they know what to do on the pitch. We will have to hold on to what I said earlier: delivering our best possible performance. Obviously, we are at a stage of building. We have completed 42 training sessions together, starting with a centre-forward who then left and a winger who is now unavailable due to transfer-market matters. There are also players who have only just arrived. However, this must not become an excuse. It is part of the difficulties you encounter along a journey, and we can and must overcome them only with great focus and dedication, with great determination and with the spirit of sacrifice that must be part of a team."

Bagnoli used to ask his players where they wanted to play and then built the ideal outfit around their characteristics. Updating that message to the present day, is the outfit you are building the right one for the players you have available and for this Verona side?
"If by 'right outfit' you mean the system of play, I have been clear with the club: I don't want to make the same mistake I made last year. This is the path we are taking. As far as the transfer market is concerned, I have been clear both with you and with the club. Even when, during pre-season, I said there would only be one departure, in addition to Montipò's, it was because those were the things we had agreed upon with the club. I use this method too: putting players in the position that best suits their characteristics. Clearly, when you make so many changes and are building a team, it is difficult to have everything in place immediately. At this moment, we have to be strong in our belief in the work that awaits us and that we have already embarked upon. There will be difficulties along the way, but it is precisely in difficult moments that the team must show the ability needed to face this championship."

The feeling, watching Verona in the Coppa Italia, is that of a technically good team but one lacking personality, also considering the particularly difficult season it is coming from. Can personality be "bought"? And, based on your experience as both a player and a coach, what is personality within a team?
"This team comes from a season that we all know about, and there is no point in repeating it. A great coach once said that a winning mentality can only be found by winning. We have to start from there. I believe the result is often a component of the performance. Within the performance, however, there are elements that cannot be missing: attention, concentration, dedication, compactness and a spirit of sacrifice. That is where we start, and I am convinced that tomorrow the team will put on the pitch, as I said, its best possible performance."

What is the team's current level of fitness and how ready are the latest arrivals, particularly Dawidowicz, Lella and Le Borgne? And in attack, is the intention to confirm Sarr or are you more inclined to play Mulattieri?
"If the team runs and performs strongly, they can even play together. Le Borgne was unavailable against Entella because his registration had not yet been completed, but I believe everything is now in order. Lella is a player who has always trained, even with another club, and he has completed four training sessions with us. We know Dawidowicz: he has just arrived, he is in good shape, but he has also only had four or five training sessions with the team. Bega, on the other hand, missed the entire pre-season. He has been with us for a week because, after the first three days, he stopped and has only just returned. So there are some situations that I have to manage carefully. They can be important resources, but physically they are certainly not yet at the same level as the other players who have been working with us so far. That is precisely why we need even more of the elements I mentioned: attention, dedication and team spirit. They are also needed to help those players who, from a physical and tactical standpoint, are not yet fully integrated into our mechanisms."

After 42 training sessions, how far along is the Verona you have in mind and want to build, considering that we are only at the beginning of a long and demanding Serie B season?
"Every game is a test, and we work hard during the week to be ready for it. There is a lot of work to do and we are aware of that. It applies not only to Verona, but also to the other teams. At this moment, we need great conviction and, as I said before, we need to put our best possible performance on the pitch. I have to be honest: seeing the number of season-ticket holders, this city and this extraordinary crowd, we must not be afraid. We have to do something extraordinary to live up to the enthusiasm of the people. We have to be ready for that."

How is the dressing room, the group, progressing – an element that was missing last year?
"I don't know what the dressing room was like last year. I look at what I have in front of me. At the moment, there is a team that is dedicated to its work and believes in what we are doing. For me, that is already important. When I spoke to you about my confidence in the team, I was referring precisely to this: the dedication and attention the players put into their work. These are the foundations."

You have shown great confidence in Slotsager, who did not have much playing time last year and made a mistake in the Coppa Italia. Is it right to continue giving him confidence, considering that mistakes are part of the game? And how much do you believe in this player? In addition, could there be changes in midfield?
"Slotsager is a strong, young player with qualities that I consider important. He will certainly grow because he has attention, dedication and a great passion for his weekly work. He too is on a journey and, if someone makes a mistake, as I said before, they must not stop because of it. There is a direction in a journey and we have to continue following it. Confidence is the first thing from my perspective. Then, obviously, there are evaluations to be made, but for me he is a starter. When I spoke about wanting to reach a point where we have 22 starters, it was because that is what you need in this championship. When there is a 50% possibility of making a change, it means the first eleven are not enough. Whoever comes onto the pitch does so at the most important moments of games, when changes in the result often happen. As for midfield, I still have one final training session and some situations to assess. We will do that this afternoon. I want to take a few more hours to decide, also because some players have only just arrived, while others have been working with us for longer. Tomorrow, midfield will be crucial because Ascoli are a team with ideas, possession and a clear understanding of what to do on the pitch. So I want to take a little more time to assess the situation."

Harroui is an important player who, after his injury in Parma, perhaps never returned to the level Verona and the fans expected. How do you see him for this season? How much are you counting on him and how motivated and eager is he to prove himself again?
"He is a player who shows great attention and dedication. Obviously, I expect a lot from him because he is a player with quality who has already done important things. We need to bring him back, both physically and mentally, to his best possible level. We have embarked on a journey together and I have great confidence in him because he is a quality player who needs to make an important contribution to us. Earlier, we were talking about 'letting players play in their natural position': in his natural position, he needs to give us something more. The pace and aggression of this division require him to raise his level in all these areas: running, aggression, speed and the ability to track back. We are working on it, not only with him but also with other players."