APPIANO GENTILE - It's one of the mostly keenly anticipated shows of the season. The wait is now over and tonight's guest on Inter Channel's Prima Serata (21:00, Sky Italia 232) is Walter Samuel who begins in almost apologetic fashion: "I wanted to be back playing before I came on this show, now I'm back, so here I am."
We begin by looking at the start of his time with the Nerazzurri: "When Inter came calling eight years ago I felt happy and proud because there was a bit of Argentinian history at this club, there had been - and indeed still are - many Argentines here. The club intrigued me even though - from a personal perspective - I wasn't having the best time of it. When I came to Inter I wanted to show that I could play for a big club. What's my secret? There isn't one, I just like playing football, that's something you should never lose sight of, even when you reach the top level and the pressure increases. I really get up for matches and it's thanks to my hunger for the game that I joined Inter and have had a long career. When you come in for criticism, that's just part of football, and you need to respond and show what you're made of."
'Wally' had this to say when asked what hasn't gone according to plan this season: "We've lacked consistency. We could have won against certain teams, but didn't. Now we're kicking ourselves. Coming third would have been a great achievement because this has been a year of great change. We mustn't look for excuses because we don't want to feel sorry for ourselves, but the fact that so much has changed means that we might have expected a difficult year. We wasted a good opportunity against Atalanta, we were winning but made mistakes at the back. Had we won that match we'd have still been in there. Now, I have to say, it's very tough, but we need to go for it and the other sides don't have easy games either."
Watch the interview in full on Inter Channel, Sky Italia 232, at 21:00.
