Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti spoke on a range of topics as part of an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, starting with his transition from player to the role he currently finds himself in.
“Today Inter has foreign owners and I am the one who transmits the values and the identity of the club. I may no longer be a player but I have started another journey that seems to me to be an incredible challenge,” he began.
“It would be wrong for me to rest on what I did as a player. I went from being the oldest in the dressing room to office newbie at 40.
“Does the position I’m in scare me? No. I take things step-by-step, calmly and with humility. I have never forgotten where I came from nor the sacrifice that my parents made. This is a source of pride for me.”
He was then asked what he aspires to do.
“I aspire to always be useful. I like working in a team and the club must continue to grow and the Inter brand expanded. We have opened more than 20 Inter Academy worldwide and there are Inter Campus in 29 countries. We also have projects in Italy against bullying and racism.
“I do not think the issue of racism is something that only concerns Italy. Inter was born as an opening to foreigners. I was captain of this club for years and I am a foreigner. We have to be firm in these values and educate people.
“The club has undergone many changes and now, little by little, we want to be protagonists again.”
Next Zanetti was asked what Inter need to beat Juventus.
“We do not look at Juventus. We look at our history and from there we think about how to build our future. The arrival of Antonio Conte on top of the great players we signed was very good. We are at the beginning of something that may be important for the club.”
He then spoke on facing Barcelona in the Champions League group stage two years in a row.
“It is alright. It is always nice to compete against the best. We saw what happened in the first meeting. We played a great game but lost in the end.”
He concluded by talking on whether criticism bothers him.
“It is something that I have never been interest in. You know what you do and how you do it. I did not need a good review to know that I had played well.”