As Tuttosport reported on Friday, both ‘El Toro’ Lautaro Martinez and Radja Nainggolan want to help Luciano Spalletti and Inter finish off 2018 on the right foot when they face Empoli this afternoon.

However the Nerazzuri boss must put everything in front of the team both on and off the field. Both players hope to be featured at the very least at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.

Tuttosport write: “In the summer, Lautaro had given excellent results playing behind Mauro Icardi as a no. 10, but those were friendly matches and the opposition defences weren’t particularly strong.

“Serie A is quite another thing and Spalletti cannot afford, for now, to lose a player when it comes to pressing and containment. To do so he would need to change the tactical system, perhaps switching to a 4-4-2, but that would cause problems for other players.

“The experiment may come but it will need some time, and to practice it Inter will need to wait for matches that are less important than that of Empoli, where Giuseppe Iachini will prepare a team ready to fight a battle.

“This is a good occasion to get Nainggolan back in the fray, though. Radja had only played 70 minutes against Chievo to stay fully fit for Napoli, but of course after what happened off the field he did not play.

“Will Spalletti start him in the 11 or will he keep him on the bench? The feeling is that the latter will happen, even though the coach has always played Nainggolan whenever he was available, even when he was only 50% fit – something he’s been punished for.”