APPIANO GENTILE - Andrea Ranocchia spoke to Sky Sport 24 after celebrating his 100th appearance against Fiorentina last night: "I feel good, of course I'm getting old, 100 matches are a lot, but I hope to play in as many again, if not more. I want to keep working harder."
Ranocchia explained how – despite regular reports linking him with a summer move away from the club – he always finds the strength to earn a place in the team: "The desire to prove people wrong, every summer I'm linked with a number of different sides, but I've always wanted to stay here. I work hard every minute to play my part for this team."
An adjective to describe Mazzarri's Inter? "Hard-working... we work very hard," responded Ranocchia instinctively. And the fact Inter have conceded so few goals in the early part of the season is down to the hard work they have put in: "We're working a lot, work is always the only thing that pays off, but we still need to cut out the mistakes. With Mazzarri we're still working on the details. We're proving that but we need to keep going because the season is very long."
"Both the guys who played yesterday, and the others are working well, and whoever the coach picks on Sunday will give their all," said Ranocchia in response to a question about Inter potentially making several changes for their next match against Cagliari.
His defensive partners Hugo Campagnaro and Juan Jesus are "very good. Hugo has a vast amount of experience, he knows the coach very well and this helps us a lot. Even our team-mates who are currently out will play their part over this long season."
Then, on the incident involving Fredy Guarin last night: "I can only tell him to relax because he's a great player. He needs to keep working as he has been, I've also been booed on occasion. 'Guaro' has apologised, he's a good guy, perhaps he was just a bit overheated after such an intense match."
Ranocchia was cautious about saying this year is different from the last few, claiming: "We'll see at the end. Let's say it's a year that's started well. Juventus are the team to beat because they've won the last two titles, but we should also be wary of Roma. We must think about ourselves though because, sooner of later, we have to play everyone."
The defender finally gave his opinion on the club and the speech president Moratti made to the players: "The president's been here for many years and he knows what's best for us guys that are here. We're in his hands as we always have been. Am I a key figure for Inter? I've been moulded into an Interista through the tough times over the last few years, and I hope to one day pay back the fans who have always supported me. Yes, I'm definitely a big Inter fan."
