Henrikh Mkhitaryan feels that Lazio are in better form than they were when Inter Milan beat them in December.
The Armenian spoke to InterTV ahead of this evening’s Supercoppa Italiana semifinal clash with the Biancocelesti, via FCInterNews.
Inter meet Lazio in the semifinal of the Supercoppa this evening.
The match sees Nerazzurri coach Simone Inzaghi face his former team the Biancocelesti for the sixth time.
Inter have beaten Lazio three times under the 47-year-old. And the team from the Italian capital have won on two occasions.
That is evidence of the fact that when Inzaghi’s current and former teams meet, the matches tend to be fairly even.
Moreover, even when Inter beat Lazio last month, the Biancocelesti put in a very strong performance, at least before going behind towards the end of the first half.
Lazio had also often done well against Inter whilst Inzaghi was their coach.
Inter Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan Expects Tough Lazio Test
“In my opinion we’ll be up against a slightly stronger team than the one we played a month ago,” Mkhitaryan said.
“But we’re also a strong team,” he went on.
“We want to prove it tomorrow on the pitch by winning the match and moving on the final.”
Asked if he expects the first fifteen minutes to be decisive considering that both Inter and Lazio tend to score early, Mkhitaryan replied “I don’t think so.”
“It will be a ninety minute match. And we have to play well the entire team.”
The former Roma and Arsenal midfielder added that “We need to be focused for the entire match.”
“We don’t know what will happen and we have to give more than 100%.”
And as far as what being reigning Supercoppa champions means to Inter in this evening’s match, Mkhitaryan said that “We’re not thinking about it.”
“The fact that we won last year won’t count for anything.”
“Obviously we want to try to win again,” the 34-year-old made clear.
