Cremonese manager Ballardini names Nigerian attacker his second penalty taker

The newly promoted side upset AS Roma on Tuesday night to snap their winless run since being promoted to Serie A’s top division.

Cremonese manager, Davide Ballardini, has disclosed that if Daniel Ciofani is unavailable, Nigerian superstar David Okereke would be the backup penalty taker.

The Gray and Red secured their first victory since their promotion to the Serie A top flight when they played host to AS Roma at the Giovanni Zini Stadium.

The Nigerian striker was instrumental in helping Ballardini’s team win the match by earning a penalty kick for the home team without either hitting the target or providing an assist in the game.

The Italian striker Ciofani, who came in at the very last minute of the game, took the penalty instead of the Nigerian and beat Rui Patrcio to end their winless streak.

The Tigers, who sent José Mourinho’s men parking at the Coppa Italia, built on the previous 2-1 victory to secure a replica of the scoreboard at Cremona.

Speaking at the end of the game, the manager recounted his team’s victory against the Wolves.

“In Roma, we played with two forwards, and we put them in trouble with half-wings. Tonight we wanted to have a different leg to put more pressure on Roma at the start of the action; in the offensive phase, we wanted to be simple, clear, fast and deep while maintaining balance and compactness. The 3 forwards put a lot of effort into this as well.” he remarked through the club website.

The former Club Brugge man has five goals for Cremonese, with one goal from the penalty spot, but the Nigerian player was unable to take the penalty kick he earned.

“Come posso tradurre dall’inglese il termine leader?”
“Con due parole: Daniel #Ciofani” 👏🏻👏🏻🔘🔴#CremoneseRoma #SolAmAi #ForzaGrigiorossi #DaiCremo #SerieATIM 🔘🔴 pic.twitter.com/FB4L2928Lw

— U.S. Cremonese (@USCremonese) March 1, 2023

The former Palermo manager commented on this and expressed his opinion as to why the Lagos native was not allowed to take the penalty kick.

“On the penalty, when Ciofani plays, he is the first choice, and if he is not there, Okereke kicks,” he said.

The 25-year-old will be keen to help his team build on their first success as they play Sassuolo at Stadio Città del Tricolore after defeating Roma.