APPIANO GENTILE - It's UEFA Europa League time again and Inter are set to take on Rubin Kazan at the Meazza tomorrow. A stadium which seems to have become a hoodoo this season, since Inter (and also another Milan team) are yet to win there. "It started out as a joke..." Andrea Stramaccioni smiled, before continuing: "No, seriously, there is no connection between our inability to win at the Meazza and the new pitch. Maybe Inter have maintained their focus better away from home. And to think that last year we won all our home games... Hopefully we'll set the record straight tomorrow."
The word provinciale - an adjective normally used in Italian to describe a small-team, defensive mentality that was applied to Inter's approach against Torino – was brought up again. Stramaccioni explained: "I have nothing against the word provinciale. It's part of Italian culture and it's also part of our footballing culture. That's not the issue here. It was the insinuation, the slant given to our victory over Torino - the fact that we took to the field with one striker less, with an extra man in midfield and four full-backs... But Inter pressed high up the pitch, had 62% ball possession, I replaced an attacking midfielder with a striker and we scored shortly before the final whistle. The problem was the premeditation, it was a comment made before kick-off. It seemed like more than just a technical comment. I can also tell you that I called Mondonico afterwards to apologise and tell him that I wasn't offended by his analysis. I explained that I will always defend Inter from such observations."
