Antonio Conte knows a difficult encounter awaits his sides in tomorrow night’s Serie A match at home to fifth placed Lazio.

“Lazio are a challenging obstacle, one of the most difficult of this season. They’re a team with their own identity, they’ve been working with Simone Inzaghi for several years. He’s a very good Coach, one who’s maybe underrated,” he began his pre-match press conference.

“We’ll have to be careful because our opponents are strong and have improved over the years, bearing witness to the fact that they have a great project. It’ll be a complicated game tomorrow so everyone will need to push. ”

Conte then shared his anger at recent media reports suggesting he will be abused by Juventus fans at Inter’s upcoming game with them.

“I’ve read some articles that talk about the upcoming Inter-Juventus as a match where I’ll be showered with insults.  I’m stunned because whoever writes and talks should have more of a conscience and understand what causes provocation, what feelings they transmit to the reader.

“If I was the editor of the newspaper, I’d kick their backsides. Whoever writes and communicates things has an extra responsibility because everything is reported by social media and it feeds a spiral of hatred and dissatisfaction. It really bothers me to see this or someone suggest insulting a person during a game.”

He was then asked about Alexis Sanchez’s playing situation.

“When he is ready he will be play. The same goes for Biraghi or Bastoni. I must do what is in the best interests of Inter, I must not just do things to satisfy people.”

He then discussed whether Diego Godin and Stefan de Vrij will both play.

“Godin played against Udinese and then rested in the Champions League. De Vrij had a bit of fatigue but can play. These lads have trained and are fine. I’ll have to make decisions, taking everything into consideration. I’ll also have to take risks.

“We have to go game by game. Let us focus on today because tomorrow is uncertain. Tomorrow will be a very difficult match against a very strong team with a clear identity.”

Conte proceeded to sing the praises of Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella.

“Barella has precise characteristics and plenty of room to grow. He’s as generous as I was, he’s a lad who radiates energy from all his pores.

“We’ll have to be good at channelling the energy into the places we want. He’s a lad who has a lot of potential, he works hard and has made himself available. He has all the ingredients to become an important player for Inter.”

He was also asked about the perceived gap between Juventus and other sides in Serie A.

“Time will tell if we can close it. I see proclamations and easy situations. After only four games, we’re already talking about this and that. I have the right experience to say that this was done deliberately to give us some stab wounds.

“We’ll have to be good at keeping our feet on the ground because it won’t be easy. There are two teams: Napoli weren’t backed but are very strong. Juventus are very, very strong. After that, we begin to consider the others, including ourselves.”

He concluded by discussing the growth of the defence and the importance of them being able to play the ball.

“Skriniar has great personality, when I ask him things he tries to do them. It is inevitable that something has changed compared to the past. When you find ten players behind the ball line it is important for us to have defenders who can play the ball out. We are working on it.

“This will complete our players even more. Modern football is total football, one cannot think that the defender only needs to defend. He must be able to do other things too. The modern game involves all 11 players and everyone must think in the same way.”