Former Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio discussed Inter’s season under coach Antonio Conte and Italian midfielders in an interview in today’s print edition of the Italian sports magazine Sportweek.
“Surely Conte has brought added value to Inter. Antonio’s work has been seen immediately, it’s no coincidence that in February the Nerazzurri are in the running for the Scudetto, while the other years they risked being out of the Champions League places.”
Marchisio then spoke about Italian midfielders and if any of them are similar to him.
“There is a new wave of midfielders emerging. I’m thinking of Barella, Castrovilli, Sensi and Pellegrini. Barella and Castrovilli have more similar characteristics to mine.
“I’ve seen the midfielder in the derby, he plays all-round, box to box, he starts from the defence to recover the ball and then goes forwards. It’s good for Mancini, we need a national team at the top again.”
Inter are currently 3rd in the league after 24 games, sitting three points behind league leaders Juventus and two points behind 2nd place Lazio, who beat the Nerazzurri 2-1 last week.
Tomorrow’s game against Sampdoria is key for the Milanese club, as losing to the Ligurian side would see the gap between them and the top two clubs grow ever further.
Barella, who is contracted to Inter until 2024, has been one of the stars of the Nerazzurri squad under Conte this season. He has made 27 appearances across all competitions for a total of 1932 minutes so far this season. In that time, he has scored three goals and provided six assists.