The long wave of the derby won by Messina against Catania is a charge of enthusiasm which, in recent years, has rarely been felt and, from the “Franco Scoglio” stadium, has moved to the city centre, to Piazza Carioli, for the “Meet&Greet” event.
Around 300 fans embraced the team and technical staff (only coach Giacomo Modica was absent) to celebrate together a victory that had been awaited for almost 20 years. Many kids and little fans didn’t miss the opportunity to get an autograph or take a selfie with the players, from Fumagalli to Plescia, from Manetta, Ragusa, Firenze, Franco, Giunta from Messina, up to Emmausso, the man of Derby.
Under the large illuminated tree it was a meeting between the team, city and institutions, enriched by the Christmas flash mob of the “Happy dancing” school of teacher Rossella Filloramo: «I like the idea of the team meeting up with the city. It is a sense of community and I am convinced that this moment is a great signal”, declared the mayor Federico Basile, accompanied by the councilor for Sport, Massimo Finocchiaro: “These are two victories that give rise to hope for the team and the city”.
Messina president Pietro Sciotto was also present, enthusiastic but down to earth: «I’m happy to have beaten Catania after 20 years, we were very keen. It was important to provide continuity after Monterosi, but also greater awareness and security. We must not let ourselves get carried away: let’s forget about defeats and victories and think about the next match to achieve our goal.”
The protagonist. Two saves on the line are the signature of Federico Pacciardi in the derby victory, which gave immense joy to all the fans: «We realized how important a match it is. Before, during and after, people’s response was fantastic. It was an honor to play this derby and above all to win it”, commented the defender, improving compared to previous outings and, after the goal scored against Monterosi, also on the pitch with greater confidence and security: “I’m finding better performances but also because the team has unblocked. The single – he underlined – performs better thanks to the group.” Two consecutive victories and two clean sheets for Messina, which has reversed course and wants to continue on this path: «We have resolved some situations, we have worked on it a lot in the last few weeks», added Pacciardi, but we cannot stop now. The most difficult task is to confirm ourselves at good levels, already from the match against Potenza: «We did well, but there is a desire to continue and try to win. It will be a difficult match against a team that is not going through a good moment, but our strength will be to take the field with the same determination as in the last two matches.”
Preparation. The team began training with a training session at the “Scoglio” stadium: only the injured Buffa and Lia, who are undergoing therapy, were out. Double session today.
