APPIANO GENTILE – On the eve of Inter v Cluj, the Nerazzurri’s next challenge
in the UEFA Europa League, Andrea Stramaccioni spoke about the match in the
press room at the Centro Sportivo Angelo Moratti.
According to the coach, the foremost danger in facing the Romanian team
"is underestimating them, most of all, and not being familiar with them.
Cluj finished even on points with the 2nd placed team in their Champions League
group, they have eight of their starting eleven from the competition and they
were able to win at Old Trafford. You can only underestimate them if you aren’t
familiar with them. We’re certainly not going to make this mistake. We’ve
prepared for this game by looking after every detail and we’ll take to the
pitch with the utmost concentration, since they’re a very dangerous opponent. I
respect Cluj and their coach, who’s doing a very good job. Right now all my
thoughts are on tomorrow’s game. You make it to a final by taking things step
by step.
"It’s not my intention to rotate the squad in terms of quality. Tomorrow I’ll try to field the team that I believe can do the
best job. The only exceptions will be made by considering the players' physical
conditions, but I’d never talk about rotating the team just for the sake of it;
I’m honouring this commitment and the Europa League, which means fielding the
best possible line-up. But if I’ve seen some players looking tired recently
then that’s something that comes as part of managing the squad,"
continued Stramaccioni.
Regarding the condition of Mateo Kovacic, who didn’t play in last Sunday’s game
against Chievo Verona, the Nerazzurri coach stated: "He had an ankle
problem. Yesterday he trained separately, and then today he was with the team.
I’ll decide whether to play him or not, but of course that will be based on his
condition."
Andrea Stramaccioni didn’t hide the difficulty he faced in choosing the squad of players for the Europa League: "It was very difficult, but I think we paid for this by having to name it practically at the end of July. Then later with the changes we made we paid for the construction of the team, which took place step by step. Then when we rounded out the squad, we weren’t able to make all the changes we wanted in the following transfer window. So I preferred to select the players that would allow me to reinforce the areas where I had fewer alternatives. Unfortunately it wasn’t a technical choice but rather one of management."
