The Man Behind The Mask

Looking ahead to the Bologna tie next weekend, the return of Rocchi will probably be the main talking point. However, I am eagerly anticipating the return of another Lazio player; Emilson Cribari.

Why? Well the man renowned as much for that mask as his playing ability had a tremendous game against Fiorentina before his early substitution in Turin (once again, somebody bust open his face). Having spent a lot of the pre-season out injured, he has endured luck as awful as Tommaso’s but I believe a first team return for Emilson is critical. Sure, he had a shocker of a season last year but so did the squad as a whole and we must not forget how instrumental he was in 2006-2007. Not only that, but the Rozehnal-Siviglia partnership has looked shaky at times and perhaps the addition of Cribari to the backline will help steady the ship. We will have to wait and see with that one.

However, it is not just his defensive capabilities that gets me going. A large part of my admiration for him is due to his attitude. Firstly, there was the fractured cheekbone incident. Expected to be out for two months after suffering the blow against Dinamo Bucharest in Champion’s League qualifcation, he came back two weeks later and helped put us into the group stages. Fantastic. Takes a certain attitude to make a sacrifice like that. The guy also talks the talk; he seems to know all the right things to say in order to please us fans. He admitted there were troubles in the Lazio camp last season but he was quick to praise the current bunch whilst expressing the need to be humble. He also maintained that he wishes to stay at Lazio until 2015! The guy appears to adore this club and what better way to show it than to have a dig at our biggest rivals. He boasted that we are a better side than Roma at present. It wasn’t the sort of remark that could come back to bite us in the bum but a fair comment based on the fact we were top of the table at the time. During the summer, he stated that he would sign a contract without asking for more money or a guaranteed spot in the first team. Unlike some, eh? He also said he has an ambition to be captain of Lazio one day. Whether this occurs or not is immaterial to me; at least he demonstrates the kind of drive needed to take this club forward.

I think that mentality is excellent and I would hope his presence on the pitch would help spread that passion to the rest of the squad. He may never be the world’s best defender but I would love to see him at this club for many years to come. At the end of the day, how can you not appreciate someone who can make a mask look that good?

Lichtsteiner, Rozehnal and Carrizo all featured for their national teams today. From what I have managed to gather so far, all of them had solid games. Hopefully they have emerged fit and well.

He's a great player. I think he deserves more playing time. I feel pretty safe when Criba's on the field .. im more opposed to having siviglia who gets full games which I can't understand. We really don't have a balance of players for positions on defense:

lichsteiner/de Silvestri - 2 amazing players, and you almost want them both on at the same time
kolarov/radu - kolarovs spot kicks vs. radu's speed ... radu slightly better though on defending
cribari/rozehanl - both tall experienced players who play a similar style

siviglia/diakite ??? - this is where this team isn't 100% - diakite is still inexperienced and has much to prove whereas siviglia is just plain old. Not that he doesnt have his moments, but overall when you look at how the rest of our defense , I think we need someone in this position or like I said before it's time to shuffle players and work them into new positions.

Anyways ... FORZA CRIBARI!

next season siviglia will be very old so there will be more place for cribari and rozngal

Cribari savours Juve win     

Lazio defender Emilson Cribari believes tiredness cost Juventus last night, but explains that the Coppa Italia is especially important to the Aquile.

The Biancocelesti fought back from 1-0 down to beat Juve 2-1 in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final last night.

“Juventus seemed to go off the boil physically and that allowed us to score two goals and win,” Cribari grinned.

“How do we feel about the return leg in Turin? Not many of us have won a trophy in our career and we will go there to play the game of our lives.

“This evening was perfect. I want to put ourselves on the back and to also thank the fans.”

Lazio travel to Napoli this weekend in Serie A and will look to build on Week 26's win over Bologna.

“We will go there looking for the three points to take home,” Cribari asserted.

“We need to ensure that we recover physically after games against Bologna and Juventus.”

Cribari concluded by commenting on the news that club President Claudio Lotito was found guilty of fixing Lazio's share price.

“I didn't know that,” the Brazilian said. “That news surprises me and disappoints me.”

I think he deserves more love from what he has done.  Remember we had a long non-losing streak with him and Sivilgia in the middle a couple seasons ago, and don't forget his passion in that Romanian CL game.

And he was completely humiliated by rossi who subbed him, in other words putting all blames on him for goal line.  This is xxx not fair.

Cribari has been loaned to Siena. I believe his contract is up anyway, so he may be done at Lazio.

Yeah, he's declined in the last year or two, but i will always remember the ironman in the mask who literally broke his face and still came back to play. Grazie Emi'!

thx Emilson...

Never forget that fatal error against Salzburg :/

Ciao and never come back. He was terrible this season.