Stanislav Lobotka has been praise by Francesco Calzona as Slovakia world-class player after his performance at Euro 2024.
Francesco Calzona, coach of the Slovakia national team, สมัคร ufabet praises 29-year-old midfielder Stanislav Lobotta as a world-class player and an important force for the team as they face England in the next round. The 16 teams of Euro 2024 this Sunday
Lobotta has emerged as one of the world’s leading players since joining Napoli from Celta Vigo in the summer of 2020, playing a key role in helping the Neapolitan side win the Scudetto in the 2022-23 season and the 29-year-old midfielder shone at Euro 2024, picking up two of the three man-of-the-match awards in the group stage.
‘He’s been player of the match twice in three games and he’s fundamental for us. He is going up against world-class players like Jude Bellingham, but Lobotka is also world-class.’
‘He’s been a top player for a few years now, he’s play some great matches. And I think tomorrow he will have another great game. But we need to have great games together. We need to play as a team. Lobotka alone can’t do much,’ Calzona said.
Slovakia have significantly improved since then and Lobotka has been key to that. A crucial moment came in the summer of 2022 when the Slovak Football Association appointed Francesco Calzona as national team coach. The Italian had never previously worked as a head coach but had broad experience in coaching, most notably as Maurizio Sarri’s assistant at Napoli. Calzona was recommend to Slovakia’s FA by Marek Hamsik, the country’s all-time record appearance holder and record goalscorer, who is now part of the national team’s coaching staff. After Hamsik retired from playing in 2023, Calzona needed to find fresh creative input and new leaders – he turned to Ondrej Duda and to Lobotka.