Inter Milan Coach On Injury Absences Vs Atletico Madrid: ‘We’re Missing Two Fundamental Players From First Leg’

Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi sees the absences of Carlos Augusto and Marko Arnautovic as a blow to his team against Atletico Madrid.

The coach gave his thoughts to InterTV, via FCInterNews, ahead of this evening’s Champions League round of sixteen second leg.

There will be a couple of notable absences from the Inter squad this evening due to injury.

Apart from more long-term injury cases like Juan Cuadrado and Stefano Sensi, two players picked up muscle problems against Bologna on the weekend.

Versatile wingback Augusto came off with a calf problem. And striker Arnautovic suffered a thigh strain right at the end of the Serie A clash.

That means that neither will play a role against Atletico this evening.

Both had featured in the first leg last month.

Arnautovic was Inter’s unlikely hero – the Austrian came on for Marcus Thuram at halftime, and capped off a solid performance by scoring his team’s winning goal on the night.

Meanwhile, Augusto had come on as a second half substitute. He helped Inter see out the win with a fine defensive display.

But neither will have any part to play in the decisive second leg.

Inzaghi: Augusto & Arnautovic Big Misses Vs Atletico Madrid

“The team is doing quite well,” Inzaghi said ahead of this evening’s match.

“We did well in training.”

“But unfortunately, in comparison to the first leg, we don’t have Carlos Augusto and Arnautovic, who had been fundamental for us in that match.”

“Both came off the bench and did very well,” the Nerazzurri coach noted.

“Unfortunately this sometimes happens when we have to play a lot of matches close together.”

As far as Atletico, Inzaghi commented that “We expect a great match from them.”

“Especially here at home, where they’ve been on a great run in the league and in the Champions League.”

“We’ll need to be the best version of Inter,” Inzaghi said. “We hope to have a great match.”

The coach made clear that “We’ll have to stay completely switched-on.”

“We have to remember that in these do-or-die knockout matches, the individual moments can make the difference. So we have to exploit them in the best way possible.”