APPIANO GENTILE - "Inter are a great team and they've shown it up until now. You always aim to improve and look forward. We want to give absolutely everything between now and the end of the season to achieve the best result possible. I'll try to show people that I can still do what I've always done, which is score goals." Tommaso Rocchi set out the team's and his own personal targets for the season as he spoke to journalists during his press conference today.
The striker was then asked about his old club and for a comment on the recent match between Lazio and Inter: "It was a hard-fought affair, Inter had lots of chances to score but were unlucky."
What about the end of his time with Lazio? "I think the coach and the club have to make choices. The fact that I've only played two games and I wasn't included on the UEFA squad list? They're choices, assessments people make and you have to accept them. And I too have now made my own choice."
The striker admitted that it was an option available to him in the summer but at the time he didn't feel it was right to leave Lazio, although he soon regretted the decision. "After nine years, I had an important and tough decision to make. It all happened very quickly and I wasn't totally convinced about leaving Lazio. I regretted it immediately afterwards and then I hoped Inter would still be interested. And here I am! [smiling] Still, I left on good terms, although we had got to the point where a change was necessary. Might I have a future as a director at Lazio? All I'm thinking about at the moment is playing, I'm not thinking about what will happen afterwards. I was happy in Rome, I live in Rome, but now I'm only interested in Inter and in playing football."Rocchi is in the Inter squad to face Udinese tomorrow, which he predicts will be "a tough match because they're a good side. Everyone has a bit of difficulty getting back into the swing of things after the break, but the players here all seem determined to go there and do well."
Finally, the striker was asked for his thoughts on what happened in Busto Arsizio in the friendly between AC Milan and Pro Patria, the team he played for in the 1996/97 season: "I don't remember anything like that ever happening before in Pro Patria's history. It's not nice to see things like that, it shouldn't happen. Going into the personal sphere like that is the worst thing you can do."
