Inter chief executive Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Marotta has insisted that the team must pick up points wherever they can ahead of the Champions League group stage match away to Shakhtar Donetsk, which is due to begin just shortly.
“Conte was a great coach before and he’s great now. His approach hasn’t changed, but Shakhtar changed seven of their starting XI. That was also the Europa League, this is the Champions League,” he explained in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, moments ago before kick off at the Kyiv Olympic Stadium.
Next Marotta spoke on the importance of this match ahead of the double header against Real Madrid in the coming weeks.
“The destiny of a squad depends on what it does, but also how the other teams do in their games. We must make the most of our opportunities and pick up points wherever we can.”
The former Juventus executive proceeded by discussing the club’s financial state amid reports in the media that Inter have recorded a circa €100 million loss in the 2019/20 fiscal year.
“We are in an anomalous situation, not just because of the packed fixture list, but also because every club is feeling the effects of lost revenue.”
He proceeded to speak on the importance of prize money from UEFA competition and how that has been impacted and how important it is to the club.
“UEFA will take this economic contraction into account, so we’ll have less revenue, but the importance of the revenue from UEFA will be increasingly important.”
Shakhtar Donetsk won their opening group stage game 3-2 against Real Madrid whilst Inter drew their opening match against Borussia Monchengladbach. The last time Inter and Shakhtar Donetsk met, which came in last season’s Europa League semi final, Inter ran out comfortable 5-0 winners.
