The team landed this afternoon in Baku and Inter’s adventure began with a press conference where Andrea Stramaccioni met with Azerbaijani and Italian journalists at Tofig Baharamov Stadium in Azerbaijan.
Strama started by explaining just how important tomorrow’s game is:
“For us it’s very important because, not having won the first match, tomorrow’s could allow us to be in a favourable position in our group. A victory tomorrow means the possibility of moving to the top.”
He continued:
“Through my colleagues and scouts I’ve tried to study Neftchi the best I can. So far they’ve shown themselves to be a very compact team with little variation to their basic formation. They play a very organised game and their four attacking players are the most dangerous ones, especially for a team like ours. They showed their strength in the match against Partizan and they were always dangerous with these players.”
Some players in Inter (Milito, Samuel, Zanetti and Cassano) were rested for this Europa League game and Stramaccioni explained his decision:
“The decision I have made was a very simple one; the players who stayed in Milan are the ones who have played 5 games in 10 days and for tomorrow’s game I want to field the most lively and in condition team that I can. To do this I have to take advantage of the characteristics of my players and manage the squad. I saw some players with heavy legs from so much playing, and so it was better to leave them home.”
But this is not because Neftchi are being underestimated:
“I have tremendous respect for this team, which we’ve followed with the same attention we pay to all of our opponents. They showed themselves to be very strong in their two matches against Apoel and – I repeat – I think that with respect to us, our opponents have an advantage: a very well-tested starting eleven. And again, the players in Milan are there not because we don’t believe this game is important, but because they were tired from too many consecutive games.”
Source: inter.it
