Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has confirmed that the trio of Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni, and Robin Gosens will all miss tomorrow evening’s Serie A match against Juventus through injury.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, as reported by FCInterNews, the coach also gave his thoughts ahead of the match against the Bianconeri, making clear that he expects a tough match against a high-quality opponent.
Inter will face one more match before the international break, but it will be one of the biggest of their season as the Derby d’Italia always is.
The fact that the Nerazzurri will have to do so without Skriniar and Bastoni in defense, and with Gosens’s injury leaving Federico Dimarco as the only left-wingback available, will make things even tougher for them.
“Tomorrow we won’t have Skriniar, Gosens, and Bastoni available,” the coach said, “and then the other players will all be evaluated in today’s training session.”
“But I’m confident,” he went on, “we know the importance of tomorrow’s match.”
“We certainly know what this match represents for the club and the fans,” Inzaghi said.
The coach predicted a clash between “Two teams who are in good form and very competitive, there will be a lot of intensity and aggression, which you expect from certain matches.”
Of the Bianconeri, he said that “We consider them a great team, made up of a lot of top players.”
“We have respect for them, we faced them in two very intense finals last season.”
“We also have two Coppa Italia matches against them,” he noted of the upcoming semifinal tie.
“We know how important it is to be mentally prepared, and that is doubly the case when facing Juve.”
Asked whether he expects qualification for the Champions League quarterfinals to give his team a boost, Inzaghi replied that “We’re very proud to have qualified, but at the same time it’s been a difficult period and we’re dealing with fatigue and injuries.”
“Now we need to look to tomorrow, a very important match for our season.”
“Then we’ll have a very intense April, we know that we’ll play at least sixteen more matches, and we hope a few more.”
“I need everyone to be at their best, I hope that I always have tough choices to make with selections in big matches,” Inzaghi said.
Asked if he feels that the team can dream of going far in the Champions League, Inzaghi replied that “We all hope so, but as a coach my only thought is Juventus.”
“We’re proud of what we did against Porto, for ourselves, for the club, and for the fans, but now our focus is on the league.”
“We want to be at our best in the last match of a tough cycle for us,” the coach said.
Of striker Romelu Lukaku, Inzaghi said that “His playing time has been increasing.”
“In the first leg against Porto he scored, he played over ninety minutes in La Spezia, he came on and did well in Porto,” he said of the Belgian.
“I have to make decisions on who plays in each match, and then I’m also happy that Correa is back, we’ll need absolutely everyone over the remaining matches this season,” Inzaghi added.
Asked whether he feels that Juventus winger Angel Di Maria is a player who’ll require special attention, Inzaghi replied that “We all know how good Di Maria is, he’s a World Cup winner too.”
“He’s a top player, but then Juve’s last match with Kean and Vlahovic in attack was excellent, and then there’s Chiesa, maybe Milik.”
“They have enormous quality, a very strong squad and top players who can change a match in an instant,” he said of Juventus.
“We’ll need to stay totally switched-on, as with their other players we need to pay special attention to Di Maria,” Inzaghi said.
