Former Inter defender Massimo Paganin is expecting a high-quality match between his former side and Atalanta at the San Siro this evening.
Speaking to Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport in an interview published in today’s print edition, the former defender gave his thoughts ahead of the Serie A clash and highlighted the defensive qualities of a particular Nerazzurri player in the form of Milan Skriniar.
Inter will face an important test of their credentials at the top end of the Serie A table in the form of Atalanta, with Gian Piero Gasperini’s team possibly the stiffest opposition they will have come up against in the league thus far.
The Nerazzurri come into the match off the back of two important wins against Bologna and Fiorentina, but La Dea do as well, and both clubs will have to count on their best players to show all their qualities in what is likely to be an intense and high-quality encounter.
“Inter and Atalanta are two strong teams,” Paganin said, “the first is on their fourth victory in five games, the second on their second in a row, and they are starting to get going.”
He went on, “La Dea usually starts with some difficulties, but this year in my opinion they have less – the system is well established, the players are still the same as last year, excluding the sales of Romero and Gollini, and above all I still see the hunger of those who want to do important things.”
Of Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi he said, “This manager is one of the Italian coaches who is growing the most – he did very well with Lazio, and he already knew what to ask of this Nerazzurri group, and he also found a team with an important understanding. Last year Inter won the Scudetto after nine years of hegemony from Juve, in reaching this goal they did something important from a technical, tactical, but above all mental point of view.”
On the losses of Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku over the summer Paganin said, “We have to be honest, they are among the strongest in the world in their roles, but those who arrived are giving their contribution. Dzeko and Correa have completed the attacking department in the best possible way and Inter already had two important strikers in the form of Lautaro and Sanchez.”
He went on, “The luck of the Milanese club is that they can count on strikers who are complementary to each other, they could practically play all together.”
“It is clear that Dzeko has different characteristics than those of the Belgian centre forward,” he explained, “who was very powerful and managed to attack in behind, but the coach knows how to make the players perform at their best, adapting the game to their qualities.”
Paganin finished with a word to who he considers to be the strongest defender in Serie A, stating that “Skriniar is doing very well but also [AC Milan defenders Fiyako and Simon] Tomori and Kjaer – in general, those who are at the top of the standings are also because they have a great defense.”
He went on, “I expect a lot from [Atalanta defender Merih] Demiral – he has yet to fit in well with La Dea and continue his growth. I believe a lot also in Matteo Lovato, born in 2000, I got to know him at the Under 21 level, and in a future key he can give a lot to Gasperini’s team.”
