On the following day, Javier Zanetti spoke to Sky Sport Italia by phone on the programme ‘Benedetta Domenica’. Many topics were touched on from yesterday’s victory, from Andrea Stramaccioni and his relationship with the team to achieving objectives, which some say could be the Scudetto.
“Winning in Turin isn’t easy and it was no small feat. We ran a lot. The strength of the group is that we all feel important, we’re united, and yesterday we showed it. Guarin came on later and was decisive in Milito’s second goal.”
The Inter captain was then asked if Stramaccioni is similar to José Mourinho: “There’s no need to make comparisons. He’s following his own path and doing well. He shows his personality in how he prepares for matches and how he speaks. He’s doing very well. His first day? He arrived at a difficult moment and in an intelligent and humble way he made himself available to us. The group understood this and we finished the season. Then his position was confirmed, and now we’re working with him. We can improve, but it seems to me we’re on the right path. Have things been entrusted to us older players? Cambiasso, Samuel, Milito and I are always exchanging opinions. We understood it was a difficult moment and that all of us were needed to get ourselves out of this, especially us ‘old-timers’. We started off on a new project. Some important champions from our history left the team and it wasn’t easy to let them go. We gambled on youth and experience to show we wanted to get back on the pitch as top contenders.”
After the victory at the Juventus Stadium enthusiasm is high and “we have to manage it. We won, but that’s it. There are other matches to play and our goal is to get to April and be leaders, continuing this fight. We’ll continue marching forward and we know we’ll have to challenge great teams like Juventus and Napoli in a balanced league. The Scudetto? I’m aware of the fact that we’re a new team. We’ve taken some big steps, but there’s still a long way to go. We believe because everything is there for us to do well, but it’s still early. Anything can happen.”
Finally, he closed on Antonio Cassano: “Who keeps an eye on him? Nagatomo! All of us take turns. We’re careful around him,” joked the captain. “Last night he was very relaxed and spoke with the referee, but luckily he came off. Otherwise I don’t know how things might have turned out [smiling]. Joking aside, Antonio is happy and pleased to be with us and he shows it on the pitch. He deserves it after what had happened to him recently.”
