Inter chief executive Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Marotta has insisted that the Champions League group stage match away to Real Madrid remains important despite the absence of fans at the match.
Neither Real Madrid nor Inter have started like they were expected to in group B and this match has been described as being like a final by members of both clubs in the lead up to it.
“It is always an important match for the two clubs. It is clear that coming into this match as protagonists in this context is not easy, without an audience there is no charm, but it is always special,” he explained in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, shortly before kick off at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium in the Spanish capital.
Marotta then went on to discuss the group, which also contains Borussia Monchengladbach and Shakhtar Donetsk, who played earlier on today with the German’s running out comfortable 6-0 winners over the Ukrainians.
“The group is quite strange, as we see Borussia won big against Shakhtar, who beat Real Madrid here. It’s going to be a relevant fixture, but the results coming up I feel will be even more important.”
In conclusion the former Juventus executive came to the defence of Inter striker Lautaro Martinez who has come in for some criticism in the media as of late due to his struggles in front of goal.
“There has been a lot of criticism of Lautaro, but he is young and needs to be given time to grow, even through performances that are not particularly convincing.
“Last season was his first as a regular starter, so we hope he can rediscover the form he had last term.”
