12.10 – Champions League eve for theInter Of Simone Inzaghi, who arrives at the match against Porto with few doubts about his formation. The technician dissolves some of them in the press conference: direct text by TMW.
12.29 – Here are Acerbi and Inzaghi in the press room in Appiano, we start with questions for the defender, then the coach.
What will the team have to field tomorrow?
“We know how important this round of 16 is, we’ve had matches like this in our career, I’m thinking of the two matches against Liverpool last year or this year against Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Tomorrow we’ll need a lot of head at this level we will have to use it in different moments and get out of some moments as a team”.
Tomorrow will Conceiçao meet again, what do you expect, also in terms of training given the absences?
“I’ll meet Sergio again tomorrow with great pleasure, he was an excellent teammate and now he’s making a great journey as a coach. He had experiences in Portugal and France, now he’s back at Porto and is doing great things. He plays physical football and technical, in my opinion Porto are a very strong team, they have technical and physical players, like all of them they have a couple of doubtful players.”
Will he decide in Milan or on his return?
“It’s 180 minutes, we play the first round at home and we want to play a race of running, aggression, determination, knowing that we are facing an opponent of enormous value who has done very well against Italian teams in recent years. I remember Milan, Juve, Rome, Lazio: we hope to reverse the trend, we are trying to prepare ourselves in the best possible way”.
With Conceiçao you have won many moments of joy. What would you give him as advice for coaching in Italy?
“We’re two fairly young coaches, this is the similarity. I met him by chance in Rome a year and a half ago, we said goodbye with great pleasure and I’ll see him again with pleasure tomorrow. Sergio on a professional level will make the best choices for his future, he has been doing very well for a long time at Porto and coaches the most successful team in Portugal.”
What have the two previous round of 16 Champions taught you?
“They are international matches, one eighth is different from the group match. Here there is a round trip, we will have to face it in the best possible way: we know the objective difficulties we will find, the opponent is used to playing these matches, two years ago managed to beat Chelsea who would go on to win the cup. Now he comes from ten consecutive victories, he is a valuable opponent but he will find an Inter who is well and healthy”.
Have you already decided on your attacking pair?
“These are the doubts… But not only in attack, who will play in midfield, who will play in the fifth, who in defense. It is the job of the coach, who has to choose every day and always tries to do the best for the good of the Inter”.
Is there a favourite?
“I’m not good at forecasting. I know we’re facing a team of absolute value, which we respect a lot and which has a lot of experience, a lot of technique, a lot of physique, but also a lot of quality. Porto have great quality, a striker as an assistman who is the best of the Champions League, he has international players, experience in defense and a goalkeeper who is on the rise”.
In the great confrontations of recent years, only with Barcelona has Inter had a positive outcome. What did you understand from these experiences?
“Let’s not forget that this team hadn’t reached the last 16 of the Champions League for eleven years. Last year with Liverpool it was a great training ground and there is great regret about the first leg. Certain matches make you grow in all aspects: tomorrow we have great trust but also great respect towards the opponent”.
Would reaching the quarterfinals be a first point in this two-year period?
“I don’t have to score points, I always hope for the growth of the team. We face this eighth with great confidence, we conquered it with an incredible journey, on paper Barcelona and Bayern Munich were teams that everyone wanted to avoid. Let’s see what’s going on doing Barça in La Liga and we know what Bayern is. Now we are there, we wanted it with all our strength, we will try to play this eighth with our chances”.
There was a lot of difference in the big matches between autumn and the last few. What should we expect tomorrow?
“It’s normal that there will be different phases of the match, it’s normal that Porto picks you up at certain times and we’ll have to do it at others, we’ll have to understand when to raise the center of gravity and when to be more careful.”
After a year and a half with Inter, what do you ask the team for as a leap in quality?
“Continuous improvement is a job that goes on over time and we always try to improve ourselves on a daily basis, the guys have always given me great availability. We have been together for 18 months, we have had many satisfactions but I see a lot of ambition in all the components” .
Inter have always imposed their game. What seems to be happening in the last 20-25 minutes is a drop. How do you dominate to stay focused?
“Tomorrow’s match will help us a lot, in addition to the heart, the head, in certain matches the head is what makes the difference”.
Inter miss the man little, Porto have several good players in one-on-one. Do you need to improve in this respect?
“We know we’re lacking, but it’s also our way of playing, it’s a statistic we’re looking at and we want to improve.”
How do you see Lukaku and Brozovic?
“They’re doing very well, physically they’re recovering. Brozovic has been out a lot apart from the world championship brackets and now he’s improving his playing time. He did well with Udinese, Lukaku has been working longer and is improving, he’s putting in a huge effort. As far as both are concerned, tomorrow we’ll try to make the best choices for Inter: whoever doesn’t start initially will be useful during the match, in matches like these the final minutes are those in which decisive actions can take place and spaces are freed up. exploit”.
12.55 – The press conference of Inzaghi and Acerbi has ended.
