Inter want to take advantage of their great opportunity. Of the three greats in the group of death, he was the one that started with the least chance of qualifying for the round of 16. With a three-point advantage over Barça, everything that is scoring at the Spotify Camp Nou will be an almost definitive step.
However, the Nerazzurri assure that they will not go out looking for a draw. “We didn’t sign it,” said Lautaro Martínez, that striker for whom the Blaugrana sighed in the past. The Italians always referred to their clause: 111 million euros that Barça refused to pay.
The Argentine wants to put an end to his goalscoring drought –he hasn’t scored since August– in what could have been his home. In addition, there he scored his first goal in the Champions League. “Barça’s interest is past water. I’m an Inter player, that’s what I wanted”. Without Lukaku or Correa, the question is whether Dzeko will accompany Lautaro or if Simone Inzaghi will leave him as the only point of reference with the idea of ??reinforcing the midfield.
According to the Italian coach, his team “is not defensive” after his approach at the Giuseppe Meazza a week ago cast doubt on it. Xavi Hernández and Pedri themselves were in charge of reminding him in the previous one, being aware that they will face a rival who will lock himself in his field to get out quickly on the counterattack, an idea that worked especially well for him in the first half in Milan.
“Inter’s history is well known, we are not defensive, but there are games that come at very specific times. We came from two defeats in the game last week and I liked the second part because we knew how to suffer in a low block, we wanted to take space from Barça, a team with great quality”, Inzaghi argued.
For the Inter coach, the challenge is “trying to have more of the ball than in last week’s game” so as not to have to suffer so much against a rival that “has wanted possession of the ball for many years and has players from a lot of quality in midfield”. And he recalled that you should not take away “credit” from his team for the victory seven days ago. “Onana didn’t have to make any big saves, we gave little.”
Inzaghi admitted that when he saw that the Champions League draw paired them with Bayern and Barça in the same group, the team had to do “extraordinary things”. “Tomorrow will be a very tough game in a very big stadium. There will be moments of difficulty, but We have to be very close and play our game”.
On the arbitration controversy in the first round match, he indicated that he “never” talks about the decisions made by the referees. “We will try to play our game and they will try to play theirs.” What he did regret is that Inter fans cannot stay in the local area of ??the Camp Nou with their team shirt as a preventive measure to what happened last season with Eintracht. “I can only say that when we play at home, visiting fans are welcome. At the end of the game I greeted Joan Laporta very cordially and I also spoke with Xavi Hernández. I received a lot of cordiality from Barça”-.
