Ahead of the Derby d’Italia Gazzetta dello Sport have published an interview with Marco Tronchetti Provera, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pirelli and a lifelong Interista.

During the interview Tronchetti Provera discussed two painful memories from Inter-Juventus matches down the year, before going on to talk about club owners Suning, head coach Luciano Spalletti and some of the Nerazzurri’s key players.

“Inter vs Juventus is THE match. We need to give the best account of ourselves possible. Was I there for the match in 1997-98? Well yes. Unfortunately…

“Had there been VAR in place back then, it would only have confirmed that there was no need for VAR to take the right decision when Iuliano fouled Ronaldo.”

“5 May 2002 is an unforgettable disappointment. Thankfully we also have several good memories from playing Juventus, such as all the occasions on which we’ve won.”

“Is this Inter team good enough to beat Juve? I think we have a good side, and that if everyone expresses their full potential then we have what it takes to compete for the Scudetto next season without doing too much in the mercato.”

“Will Inter manage to keep hold of Icardi? I hope so. He’s proved himself to be the best penalty box centre-forward in the world at the moment.”

“I think Spalletti is one of the most competent coaches in Italy. By bringing Cancelo and Rafinha into the team he has addressed the lack of quality in midfield, now Inter have more ideas and solutions going forward.”

“Brozovic is a classy player, really good. Perisic is another great player. Like I said, we have a good group of players with a couple of very reliable central defenders. To make Inter Scudetto contenders we just need to make some adjustments, we don’t need a revolution.”

“Suning? We as Pirelli have just renewed our partnership with Inter and so you can see that we’re convinced the people we’re dealing with are serious, reliable and solid. I think Suning have wanted to take great care in following UEFA’s Financial Fair Play restrictions.”