Inter cannot afford to give anything other than their best if they wish to take maximum points from their opening two Serie A fixtures, Corriere dello Sport warned this morning.
The Nerazzurri begin their league campaign at home to Lecce on Monday before traveling to play Cagliari in week two.
Conte’s side impressed against high-profile opposition in preseason but they will have to raise the bar again when the serious stuff begins.
“Salernitana are not Liverpool, but the way Lecce disposed of them in the Coppa Italia won’t have left Conte indifferent,” the paper said, referring to the Salentini’s 4-0 win on Sunday.
“They play attacking football with fluidity and speed, Filippo Falco can invent things and they won’t have anything to lose at San Siro.
“Cagliari are up next and that means Radja Nainggolan. If the Ninja had to choose a match in which he wanted to give everything this would be it.”
Conte has made more progress with Inter during preseason than Maurizio Sarri has at Juventus, but the Nerazzurri still have questions to answer in the wing-back positions while Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez are not properly fit yet.
CdS nonetheless predicted Inter would pick up six points before the international break ‘if they play like Inter’.
