Inter face a tough opponent this evening in the form of Champions League group stage opponents Shakhtar Donetsk, and defender Stefan de Vrij is aware of this.

Speaking to Inter TV ahead of the match, the Dutchman stressed the importance of being clinical with their goal-scoring opportunities if they are to take anything away from their trip to Ukraine.

The Nerazzurri showed encouraging signs in their group stage opener against Real Madrid at the San Siro, creating numerous presentable chances particularly in the first half, but in the end they were frustrated by lacklustre finishing and an excellent display by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois before a late winner by Real left them without any points in their group.

If Inter are to do something they’ve failed to at the last three times of asking and progress to the knockout rounds of Europe’s top competition, they will have to do better to dispatch their chances in front of goal.

“It is a very high-stakes match, a very important match especially that we didn’t get points in the first one,” de Vrij said. “It is important to get a good result.”

He went on, “Shakhtar is a team we know well given that we also met them last year. And the same goes for their new coach. It will be a tough match, but we are ready. We are improving – we are working hard on the attacking phase, on creating chances and scoring goals.”

“We have to continue like this,” he concluded. “This will be a different game than last year, when we weren’t able to score. I think it will be important to score our chances – we are scoring a lot and we want to do it here in Kiev too.”