Simone Inzaghi feels that the “real Inter Milan” will be necessary if his team are to conquer Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

The Nerazzurri coach spoke to Italian broadcaster SportMediaset, via FCInterNews, ahead of tomorrow evening’s Champions League round of sixteen first leg.

Inter face another major turning point in their season tomorrow.

The Nerazzurri return to Champions League action after a couple months away.

And now the stakes have increased significantly. Tomorrow marks the start of the knockout rounds.

In the last couple of months since they secured their place at this stage, Inter have enjoyed a positive campaign domestically.

Whilst an early elimination from the Coppa Italia was a blemish, Inter won the Supercoppa Italiana, and surged to a commanding position at the top of the Serie A table.

Now, the Nerazzurri will be hoping to transfer that kind of form to the European stage.

Simone Inzaghi: Need The Real Inter Vs Atletico Madrid

Inzaghi said that “We’re certainly up against a great team.”

“One which has many years of experience playing in these do-or-die matches.”

“They have a great coach, who was a teammate of mine that I always look back on fondly,” the Inter coach said of Diego Simeone.”

“He’s won eleven or twelve trophies. He’s given this team an identity in his own image.”

“We were teammates for four years,” Inzaghi said of the Atletico boss.

“Then, I went to visit him in Madrid, and we met again on a couple of other occasions. ”

“It’s a meeting that I’m very much looking forward to.”

“And then this will be a match between two teams playing great football. Atletico have a good style of play, and are coming off the back of a 5-0 win over the weekend.”

“We have to pace ourselves, knowing that it will be decided over 180 minutes,” Inzaghi said.

“And then we have to take advantage of the home advantage,” he said of tomorrow’s match.

“We need to play like the real Inter,” the coach made clear.

Inzaghi noted that “We’re having a great run. Just look at where we are compared to twenty days ago – we’re nine points clear at the top of the league ahead of Juventus.”

“But it’s absolutely not over, we haven’t won it yet,” he said of the domestic title race.