Former Inter manager Andrea Stramaccioni has shared his thoughts ahead of this weekend’s Derby D’Italia between Juventus and Inter.
Stramaccioni, who was last in charge of Iranian club Esteghlal, started the interview with Milan based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport by recalling when he led Inter to a 3-1 away victory against Juventus.
“It was a great feeling and great win for all the Inter players. They were three golden points after a disastrous start. We decided to play in an open and unprejudiced manner but conceded almost immediately although it was a clear offside. I was in line with the linesman.”
He then went on to reveal for the first time that he actually broke his hand during that game as he got angry with one of the decisions made.
“It happened because I violently punched the bench after Lichtsteiner was not sent off. I broke my hand and I did not feel a thing but on the bus back to Milan I began to feel tremendous pain.”
Next Stramaccioni went on to speak about the current state of Inter which included him singing the praises of current Inter manager Antonio Conte.
“In my opinion, this is the strongest Inter of the past five years. Conte is certainly one of the best managers. One of his biggest strengths is the ability to take care of every little detail of his team both on and off the pitch.”
He then shared his thoughts on the fact that the match between the two great rivals is to be played behind closed doors at the Allianz Stadium.
“It is the ugliest thing, but unfortunately a must. I think it as a great advantage for the Nerazzurri to have.”
In conclusion he gave his prediction for the match: “In my opinion it will end 1-1 with the goals coming from Lukaku and Bonucci.”
Stramaccioni was appointed as Inter manager in March 2012 and would spend 14 months in charge of the Nerazzurri before being sacked in May 2013. He won 31 of his 65 games in charge.
