Genoa coach Davide Ballardini believes his side will face the best team in Serie A when they take on Inter at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza today.
The Grifone visit the league leaders having gone seven games without defeat, but Ballardini is under no illusions that his side are facing a difficult prospect against the Nerazzurri.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the match yesterday, the 57-year-old former Lazio and Palermo coach insisted he was looking forward to testing himself and his squad against title-chasing Inter.
“It will be a great test against the best players with great levels of technique and physicality,” Ballardini claimed. “There is a great desire to go to the San Siro and compete against the strongest team in the league.
“We need to be fit, show character and awareness of their threat because I believe we are coming up against the best side in Serie A, and we need to have all those factors.”
After replacing Rolando Maran in December, Ballardini has overseen a turnaround in Genoa’s fortunes and pulled the club away from the threat of relegation into a mid-table position. Despite a Derby della Lanterna match against Sampdoria on Wednesday, the coach insisted he was focused on Inter.
“Tomorrow it is important to put in a good performance, because this will give us our best chance of coming away with something. Our goal is to play a good match.
“We have a tough set of fixtures, but for now we are only thinking about Inter, then we will consider the derby against Sampdoria. It is clear that we will have to make some evaluations, but we want to take it one game at a time,” Ballardini concluded.
Inter, meanwhile, face relegation-threatened Parma on Thursday as they look to maintain their title challenge and secure a first Scudetto since 2010.