Cremonese recorded back to back wins in the Italian Serie A for the first time this season, after beating Empoli 1-0. In the previous match-week, they labored to a 3-2 victory away at Sampdoria.

On Friday, Nigerian forwards Cyriel Dessers and David Okereke played huge roles in the win.

Dessers got the goal in the first half, while Okereke who recently returned from injury was on for twenty-seven minutes.

The Grigiorossi coach, in the press conference, praised the duo and the entire team for grinding out a difficult win.

“There is great satisfaction with the match we played and because we beat a team that plays by heart and is very good at interpreting the type of football they offer.

But it’s also true that over time we managed to improve and restart, putting our opponents in difficulty. It’s a victory earned with a lot of sacrifice, attention and determination but also quality of play against opponents who play against everyone,” Davide Ballardini said at the news conference.

“We saw a team with the right attitude that knows when to attack and when not. We saw many good things, including a Dessers who in my opinion doesn’t realize how strong he is: he’s an important player for us, teammates are happy to play with people like this, who can give you a hand in ball possession and in phase defensive.

“The strong midfielder is the one who also knows how to defend the goal. Today we saw a team that knew how to suffer, so good: we are happy, we won but now we are already projected towards the next match,” He concluded.