Inzaghi before Juve-Inter: “Allegri has more time to prepare for the matches”

The countdown for Juventus-Inter has started for some time, for weeks, and zero is just over 32 hours away when Simone Inzaghi speaks in the press conference on the eve of the match: “It will be a great match – explains the coach -, stimulating in a full stadium. It’s the first in the standings against the second, we all know what it means: both are making an excellent run and are defending well. There will be many individual duels. Juventus? I would have expected it to be so close, he always wants to win like Allegri and has more time to prepare for matches, we know that is a huge advantage. But obviously I wouldn’t trade with him. There are times when they say that Inter are the team to beat and other times when they say that they have weakened. It goes like this.”

the words

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Inzaghi then continues talking about Juan Cuadrado and the retirement that this time will not take place before the away match: “I start from the assumption that I have very great players who are very responsible, with many matches of this importance behind them. Some returned from the national teams yesterday and it seemed right to me, given the calendar, to leave them as much time as possible with their families. I will evaluate today for Cuadrado and Sanchez. Alexis was unable to train due to a slight sprained ankle suffered against Chile, while Juan trained yesterday for the first time in the group due to a problem he has never had before in his career.” The coach oscillates as often happens between awareness of the specific weight of the match and skilfully alleviating the pressure, as it is only the end of November: “Doing well tomorrow counts a lot, but we are a third of the way through the championship and there will be many matches after that. We obviously know how much it costs for our fans.”

in the field

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Inzaghi confirms that he will not be distorted for the Derby d’Italia: “We will always try to play our football, we face a compact team, with great champions who can resolve the match at any moment. Great concentration will be needed, Juve are always a difficult team to face.” With Massimiliano Allegri, the balance sheet is curious, positive in the cups and fluctuating in the championship: “They are all special matches. In recent years we have won a lot, from the finals two years ago to the semi-finals last season. In the championship we suffered two defeats: in Turin my Inter played an excellent match without scoring, then in the second half we lost some distance. Clearly I wouldn’t sign for a draw, we are aware that there will be difficulties like in the away matches against Atalanta or Turin. We will face the top 3 of last season away, with two important Champions League matches in between.”

humor

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Inzaghi then talks about the return of the national team: “I found the Italians quite well, they are often tested more mentally than physically. I found Lautaro satisfied, as did Sommer and Thuram, minus Sanchez and Carlos Augusto who lost. But they will have time to make up for it.” But how much do the national teams have an impact? The Inter coach sees it like this: “We need to make them recover in the best way, what counts above all is the importance of the matches being played, rather than tiredness.” Obviously, a hint about the imminent renewal of Giuseppe Marotta, Piero Ausilio and Dario Baccin cannot be missing: “I haven’t seen the managers, but I would be happy for them and for Inter, they are three great people who live 24 hours a day for Inter”.

hakan in the center

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As always, Inzaghi does not comment on the question of the favourites: “I don’t participate in grids, but I don’t hide my ambitions. I always tell the players that we have to look to the next game without looking further ahead. It’s not up to me to judge which football philosophy is the best, we are working well defensively, but also the rest of the team like the attackers. I repeat, we are a third of the way there. Calhanoglu? He is having a great journey. The first time I said how good he was he was playing winger in attack at Milan and I was at Lazio. He has great skills, he took over as director last season due to Brozovic’s prolonged absence and then he did very well.”