Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has said that Lautaro Martinez is the first choice penalty taker and that Juventus are improving a lot, according to a report in the Italian media today.
Speaking during his press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, via FCInternews, the Inter coach said that Lautaro Martinez will be the man to take any penalties that Inter are awarded against AC Milan tomorrow.
“First of all I will have to evaluate the general conditions. There is no training in the afternoon. We have a list of penalty takers that you all know. If it happens we will see, but Lautaro Martinez is the first. Then we have Calhanoglu, Perisic, Sanchez, many can take it.”
Simone Inzaghi also admitted that Juventus have made great strides in the past two months and have had a great transfer window.
“The table is very true. Everything is very open. In addition to Milan and Napoli there are Atalanta and Juventus who are very strong.
“Juventus were my favourite in the summer, in the last two months they have made great strides and had a great transfer market. Fifteen games is a lot.”
Talking specifically about tomorrow’s match against AC Milan, Simone Inzaghi said that he feels it will be a very intense match.
“It will be a very intense match. We will be facing a lot of good opponents. Tomorrow it will be a very heartfelt derby, the boys are aware of it, they are concentrating. I hope they have clear minds and are aware of the strength we have on an individual level and a squad level.”
He then said that the result will not prove decisive for the Scudetto if Inter takes all three points because there is too long left to go.
“I don’t think it will be decisive because there are so many games to go. We saw in the first game, in the derby we were seven points behind, we drew it and we were very good at making up the gap. It is a very important match, we know what it represents for the two sets of fans but with 15 games left there is a lot to play for.
“We know the path that we started this summer with the kids and the club. We knew that we started a path with many unknowns, we did well with the squad to make things go in the best way but we know that it must be a stimulus for us to not let our guard down and be even more responsible from here to the end.”
When asked about his feelings towards the squad following the acquisitions of Felipe Caicedo and Robin Gosens, Simone Inzaghi showed that he is happy with what the club did for him.
“Without a doubt, we have great managers and a great president who is here with us in Milan at the moment. For Gosens we will have to wait a little longer but he is an excellent signing, we all know him.
“Caicedo, I coached him for many years, this was this opportunity after Sensi left. We were ready and I’m happy with what we did and what we were doing before the transfer market.”
Inter are viewed by many as the favourites for the match tomorrow evening but Simone Inzaghi feels there is no such thing as a favourite when it comes to derbies.
“I’ve played many derbies, there are never any favourites with different rankings and even more so now with two strong, organised teams. The transitions will make the difference, we will have to be good at directing them. Then the motivations can make the difference.”
Simone Inzaghi comes from Piacenza and he recalls memories of going to see the Piacenza-Cremonese derby when he was young.
“As a child there are many derbies I liked and not one in particular. When we were children my brother and I, with my father, used to go to see Piacenza. The city where we grew up and we still support today. I remember seeing Piacenza-Cremonese a lot.
“Milan and Inter had great players like Rummenigge, Altobelli or Beccalossi. My brother and I looked at Altobelli with great admiration.”
The coach revealed that Alexis Sanchez feels he is in great physical condition despite having just returned from playing for Chile.
“I’ll keep training this afternoon to evaluate. Lautaro did a partial job with Caicedo yesterday but I saw he was looking fit. Sanchez told me he is in the best possible condition. I’ll see him today.
“Only Correa and Gosens are missing. The German is finishing his journey and two weeks have passed for Correa since the injury. He is calm and hopes to speed up his return.”
Simone Inzaghi was asked if the Coppa Italia match against AS Roma next month will see a big turnover of the squad.
“Predicting before the matches is not easy. In the last block of games we played at a very high pace with Lazio, then 120 minutes with Juve and then Atalanta. At that moment I needed to change more than usual.”
The former Lazio coach expressed some sadness that there will only be a 50% capacity crowd at San Siro for the match but reiterated that it is right to stick to the rules.
“I think we have to stick to the rules, it’s normal that I would have liked to have seen a derby with 70 thousand people. These two teams who are on a great journey would have deserved it.
“Already in the first leg with 75% it was different, the Super Cup with 50% did not have the atmosphere it should have.
“It will be the same in the derby as well. We are waiting confidently hoping we can return to maximum capacity.”
Simone Inzaghi has been lucky enough to have almost the entire squad available to him for training over the past two weeks.
When asked how much of a benefit that was, he said: “It was certainly important. I would have liked to have also had Vecino, Martinez and Sanchez from the beginning.
“Vidal stayed, Vecino came back earlier and I will see Sanchez today. But certainly compared to the other times it was a different sort of break.”
