Claudio Onofri, a former player for both Genoa and Torino, shared his insights on the upcoming face-off between his two former teams at Marassi. His thoughts were exclusively published in the daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera.
Reflecting on the first half of the season, Onofri stated, “Genoa can be most satisfied as no one expected such a calm season after coming from Serie B.” He spoke optimistically about Torino, believing that with good players and a coach like Juric, there could be a quality leap in the team’s objectives. He said, “…the victory against Napoli and the opportunity to further improve the ranking brings hope to the Granata fans.”
Onofri went on to discuss the matter of Juric joining Genoa from Gasperini’s tenure. He recalls the high expectations and the initial difficulties that resulted in criticism that did not assist Juric. Onofri, having known Juric well, said, “I consider him an excellent person and a coach who has a lot of room for improvement.” He praised Juric as a coach who can give a clear imprint to the team.
Regarding the renewal of Sanabria, Onofri said, “If we talk about absolute technical value, yes.” He highlighted that Sanabria is in the prime of his maturity and Cairo did well to secure him. Not many better and easily accessible attackers are available, he added. However, Onofri expressed that Tonny could be more consistent.