Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi says today’s clash with Juventus is “important”.
However, he insists the result won’t be decisive in the title race.
Inzaghi said: “Tomorrow’s match is certainly very important, not decisive but very important. It will be very close, the first leg was not exciting but tomorrow we will play at home in front of our fans and we will try to play the match in best of all worlds, knowing that we face a great team that has had a similar path to ours.
“The ranking, beyond the asterisks, is similar to ours and that of Juve. We will have to be good: we know the importance of the match, also because we are playing it in our stadium, but we have great respect for Juve. We have played against Juve many times over the years, we have played in very important finals, championship matches, Italian Cup finals: each match has a story of its own. Tomorrow will be a very balanced race, we will have to use a lot of head, heart, and be ready to make an extra run for our teammate if he is in difficulty.
“Both teams will have pressure, but at the same time we will have to be happy to play a match, after a start to the championship made by both in the best possible way. There will be pressure, as is normal in football, but you have to be proud to play a match like this. We in our stadium will know that we will have the support of the fans and we will try to make them happy. There has been a lot of talk about grids, I’ll just say that we are Inter. We know we have great responsibilities on a daily basis: we played 30 very positive games.
“If I think back to the month of January, we played 5 games in 22 days, the last four away from San Siro and we brought home a trophy that we cared about a lot. We must continue, January was intense and positive but we must look forward. Tomorrow evening we have a great game that we want to make our own. But it’s an important match, I wouldn’t make comparisons: there are four months to go, it’s not decisive.
“Clearly we will try to play a great match. On the eve of the game you think about how to play the match, then you always have to think about the opponent in front of you. Many times the results are the result of performances, but you must also think that the opponent has prepared like you and wants to create great difficulties for you. In recent years we have played finals, semi-finals, championship matches: in the last year and a half with Juve we will have played eight matches, all different. It will be very balanced and we will try to interpret it well from the beginning.
“Allegri has won a lot, he is a winning, expert, practical coach. I really like him as a coach: we are also of different ages, what I can say is that this year I saw an excellent Juventus. Winning 16 games out of 21 means they were very good. A super team was needed to keep up with Inter and Juve is proving to be such.
“Juve without cups? It’s certainly an advantage to play one game a week, there’s no point in denying it, but I think it’s also pointless to talk about it. We know this is the case, we are clearly happy with our path in the Champions League and we continue on our path, preparing the matches in the best possible way and knowing that in January we had five matches in twenty-two days, as well as that in February we will have a very busy month .
“I have great respect for Allegri. Luckily I won a lot against Juve, we also lost: I don’t think it’s an Inzaghi-Allegri match, but Inter-Juve. The protagonists are the players who go on the pitch, as well as the respective staff who try to help them.”
