Inter defnder Francesco Acerbi feels that, over the rest of the season, every match across every competition will be like a final for the Nerazzurri.
Speaking to the YouTube channel of the Lega Serie A, the 35-year-old gave his thoughts on the significance of the run-in of the campaign in which virtually every match the team play will be do-or-die, and also talked about his relationship with coach Simone Inzaghi.
Inter still have ten matches to play in Serie A before the end of the season, whilst there will also be a two-legged Champions League tie against Benfica as well as the Coppa Italia semifinal second leg against Juventus.
Added to these could potentially be three more matches in Europe, as well as the Coppa Italia which the Nerazzurri will hope to reach in order to defend their crown from last season.
At stake are a place in the top four of the Serie A table, a vital objective for the season, and the possibility of winning silverware in two other competitions.
There is still everything to play for, and everything will be balanced on a knife’s edge in every match that the team confronts.
First up, there will be tomorrow evening’s Serie A match away to Salernitana.
“It will be a cauldron in Salerno, and we’ve already seen this season how we’re prone to losing matches against the smaller sides,” Acerbi said.
“Salernitana are a good team, they play good football,” he continued.
“Now all the matches are like finals for us, they’ll all be difficult,” he added.
Acerbi noted that “We’ve already lost against Empoli, we drew with Monza, we lost against Spezia.”
“The match in Salerno will be like a final for us, every match in the league will be.”
Of coach Simone Inzaghi, who he had already worked with at Lazio as well, the defender said that “I have a good relationship with him but it’s always a relationship that between coach and player, a relationship that every player has to have with his coach.”
“So there’s respect and I have a lot of respect, he trusts me and I always try to repay his faith.”