Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu feels that the team can’t afford to dwell on their derby loss to AC Milan over the weekend and must seek to immediately bounce back in tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, as reported by FCInterNews, the 28-year-old gave his thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s match, emphasizing putting Saturday’s derby loss behind them immediately.
Inter are already in an intensely busy period of their season, with multiple important matches coming one after another with only a few days in between them.
So far, this has been apparent nowhere more than in the fact that Inter are having to shift their focus from a frustrating setback in the first Milan derby of the season to trying to get a result from one of the most formidable teams in Europe in the form of German champions Bayern.
“We have to put it behind us immediately,” Calhanoglu said of the derby, “we don’t have any days to relax. We’ve already analyzed the last match.”
“We lost the derby due to our mistakes but we’re already motivated for tomorrow because there’s another level in the Champions League and we have to be ready,” he added. “We have to take to the pitch united.”
“Last year we dominated against Real and Liverpool,” he continued, “we had the games in hand and then we lost due to small mistakes. We need to be more united and focused on the pitch.”
“There are eleven of us and the game is played for ninety minutes,” the midfielder said. “We analyzed everything together with the coach and the staff, we’re ready.”
Calhanoglu noted that “We have a really difficult group, but that’s how the Champions League is, and it’s nice to have a test of how good we really are.”
“I know Bayern well,” the Turk continued, “they’re strong, fast, and press high. We have to be ready, we can’t lose the ball easily because they’re a fast team.”
“The derby is over,” he continued, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore because it bothers me. It’s painful, but it’s behind us.”
“It’s better to think about the next match, particularly in the Champions League,” Calhanoglu added.
“Everyone wants to make it out of the group, we have to be calm and think step by step,” the Turk pointed out. “Last season we dropped out in the round of sixteen and this season we want to go further.”
And of the team’s defensive struggles which have been noted this season, the midfielder said that “We talk a lot about the defense, but there are also other positive notes to be seen on the pitch.”
“The small details make the difference,” Calhanoglu said, “we’ve already analyzed everything and we can’t only talk about the defense. We made mistakes as a team but we can also improve and pick ourselves back up as a team.”
