The 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen still provided boss Andrea Sottil with plenty of positives besides the result.
“It was an honest performance against a very good side that’s much further down the line with their preparations than us. It was important for us to improve in terms of tactics and showing our character.
“I’m pleased with the attitude. We certainly still need to improve but we’re full of desire to do just that. We had some chances to equalise and also some dubious moments.
“We have to continue down this path. You’re never happy when you lose, but the mentality was spot on.”
In terms of injuries, Sottil said, “I don’t like making excuses, but we didn’t have a full squad. Walace was missing, [Rodrigo] Becao got injured, but the players who came on did give it everything and that’s important.
“We’re on the right path. We mustn’t forget that some players only recently came back and they still need to get into the rhythm tactically.”
Sottil also discussed the immediate impact of the new arrivals and looked ahead to the future.
“[Adam] Masina is an important player with Serie A experience to bring to the team. I played him straight away to get him some minutes under his belt and he responded well.
“[Jaka] Bijol is a player with real quality who’ll do well. We’ve had to make do in defence, but I’m very pleased.”
The coach also discussed the return of Marco Silvestri in between the sticks.
“Marco is a top-level goalkeeper. We all got ourselves ready for a high-level game. Marco had been out for a while coming into it. [Daniele] Padelli also did well, as did everyone.
“The approach was to play to win. We didn’t manage to stage a comeback but we’re on the right path.
“Many congratulations to [Gerard] Deulofeu and to his family on the birth of his daughter.”