‘Lullu was a pillar in the national team’, said NT Head Coach Devis Mangia whilst addressing the match day -1 press conference ahead of the game against San Marino.
‘When I met him for the first time, I thought, I will eventually leave, players will grow up however Lullu has been there since forever and will remain there.’
‘We have now to do our utmost to honor his memory and do our best tomorrow. We need to win to keep our options open and then have a decisive match in September.’
‘It is difficult to lift the morale of the players after a defeat, and thus you can imagine what it feels like now after the demise of a person, ’ explained Devis Mangia.
Devis Mangia expressed his condolences to Mark Piscopo’s family and friends especially to his wife and son.
‘Lullu was there after each defeat to remind us that there are more important things than results, and that is life itself’ explained Zach Muscat whilst answering questions on what Lullu meant for the NT players.
Muscat described Lullu with the words joy and courage (Allegrija u Kuraġġ). He reiterated that today the team is working for results, however there was a time when the mentality was different. Lullu was always there to ‘lift the weight off the players especially when results were not what we wanted, which happened quite often.’
‘He was the go-to-person in the dressing room and all players looked out for him especially when times were rough’.
Report: MFA
Photo: Stephen Gatt
