Inter captain Samir Handanovic is ready to face Real Madrid in the Champions League tomorrow, and he knows that it will be a tough fixture for the Nerazzurri.
Speaking in a press conference, as reported by FCInterNews, the 37-year-old gave his thoughts on the upcoming match and highlighted the danger posed by Real forward Vinicius Jr. and Karim Benzema in particular.
Inter will know that they have to improve on their performances in the Champions League of the past few seasons, having failed to progress to the knockout rounds at the last three times of asking and ended up bottom of their group last campaign.
The captain’s words show that the team have an attitude of confidence going into the group stage opener tomorrow, but that there is no chance of underestimating Carlo Ancelotti’s Merengues side who currently side top of La Liga on goal difference.
Of Vinicius and Benzema he acknowledged, “I have seen almost all of Real’s games. They are in excellent form, as soon as they touch the ball they can score. It will be up to us to restrict them and stop them. We met them last year and we know them well.”
Of the Nerazzurri’s poor recent record in Europe’s top competition the Slovenian said that “It must be a motivation. This Inter, compared to the previous ones, has more experience, is more intelligent and more determined.”
“We want to go through as always,” he concluded, “maybe in the other years someone has been better than us or we haven’t been up to it. But the past is done. Let’s think about tomorrow’s match that kicks off the competition.”