Legendary former Inter midfielder Nicola Berti feels that current Nerazzurri midfielder Nicolo Barella gives the entire team a lift with his energy and intensity.
Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, the 54-year-old compared Barella’s style of play to his own and predicted that he would score against Napoli this evening.
Barella has grown into the Nerazzurri shirt more and more since joining from Cagliari in the summer of 2019, and now he is virtually indispensable to the team.
The 25-year-old provides technical quality, goals and assists, and defensive workrate, but he also has the quality of playing with special intensity no matter the opponent, and Berti feels that this brings the level of the entire team up.
“Fortunately the team now has Barella,” he said, “his enthusiasm is infectious throughout the entire team. I like when he’s compared to me, and I think that he’ll score tonight at the Maradonna.”
Berti also gave his thoughts on the importance of this evening’s massive head-to-head clash at the top of the Serie A table between Inter and Napoli.
“After the derby, we have a lot of matches,” he said. “The important thing is to avoid another loss. We’ll think about Liverpool later, but right now we’re only focused on playing against Spalletti’s team.”
