Andrea Pirlo has a lot of respect for their next opponent in the Coppa Italia, SPAL.

The Bianconeri are looking to reach the final of the competition that they lost to Napoli last season, yet again. They saw off Genoa in the last round to set up this quarterfinal game.

They are favourites to win the game, and it is easy to see why fans and football lovers have already written off SPAL, but Pirlo isn’t getting carried away and has warned against the threat that the Gli Estensi carry.

Pirlo has been following the trend around Europe that has seen Bayern Munich and Real Madrid get knocked out of their respective cups by teams below them in the football pyramid.

He said, considering these happenings, the Bianconeri have to forget that SPAL is a Serie B side and take the game very seriously.

He adds that they are only a level below them on paper and have done very well in the Cup this season.

“There are many dangers in this fixture, because we are facing a team that is only Serie B level on paper,” the coach told JTV as quoted by Football Italia.

“If we look at the other countries, we can see that Bayern Munich went out of their cup competition to a second division side, so did Real Madrid.

“We have to go into this knowing it’s a difficult match. Our aim is to get through to the next phase, so we need the utmost concentration. SPAL have done really well in the Coppa Italia and Serie B this season, we cannot underestimate them.”