Inter coach Simone Inzaghi believes Milan Skriniar is focused on the Nerazzuri, despite his contract situation, while Romelu Lukaku is an added value that Inter are yet to benefit from. The Nerazzurri will be in Riyadh for a Supercoppa Italiana Milan derby and speaking in his pre-match presser, Inzaghi fielded questions about his expectations for the game and the status of his squad, starting with Skriniar:
“It’s part of modern football, but it’s not affecting how I see him training and playing. To me he looks very focused and calm, and I have a great club supporting me who are working to resolve his contract situation and all the other contract situations in the best way possible, that’s why I have utmost confidence.”
Facing Milan in a final? This has only happened twice in the clubs’ history, and it’s a trophy that would mean a lot to the club and the fans.
Zhang? It’s important to have the whole club close to the team, always ready to give us their support.
Martinez? It matters a lot for us, he’s come back [from the World Cup] charged up and he’s played even more than expected, partly due to some injuries to other forwards. He’s a very important player for our team, and he has to keep playing the way he’s been doing,” he said of the Argentine.
Lukaku? We’re evaluating one day at a time. Romelu is working well, he has to get to the point where he can work without feeling any pain, something which has held him back a bit this year. Yesterday he trained partially with the group.
The hope is that he can train without feeling any pain, something that wasn’t the case after the match against Parma. Yesterday he completed a partial workout, we’ll see about today.
But if he doesn’t recover for tomorrow, we have hope that he’ll be ready to face Empoli.
We hope that he can train without feeling pain, he’s an added value for us but we haven’t been able to really use him yet.
We know the importance of this match, and what’s more, it’s a derby in the final. We’ll try to play a great match, it’s the first trophy on offer this season and we want to do well.
I consider it a trophy, not all teams are able to get to this point. It’s the continuation of what we’ve already won last season, we know what it represents. We want to defend the trophy that we won last season.”
The derby is special, we faced each other on several occasions last season. They’re always matches that are decided by the individual episodes, We lost this season without deserving to, in the first half Milan were the better team, but Inter would’ve deserved it based on the second half.
So far I’m satisfied with how we’ve done in 2023, We’ve had four matches, and we’ve won three and drawn one. Apart from the late draw against Monza, we would’ve had a perfect run.
Apart from a few errors and a few injuries, the team has always stayed in matches. I’ve had my decisions limited by injury, particularly in midfield and in attack.
We know the kind of team Milan are, they have great quality, they can build play and counterattack, they’re a mature team who’re doing well in the league just as we are.
Unfortunately, Napoli are going at a pace that’s virtually never seen before. Milan have also done well in the Champions League, and then they got knocked out of the Coppa Italia, which can happen when there are so many matches so close together.
Darmian is doing well, he’s a great resource for us, but Dumfries is also growing into his role, he’s overcoming the minor physical problem that he’s had after the World Cup. I have some selection doubts that I’ll resolve as I always do.
