MILAN – It's been a long road back for Marco Andreolli but on Thursday he finally made his first competitive start in just over a year.
The 30-year-old ruptured his Achilles tendon while on loan at Sevilla last season and has since been patiently working his way back to fitness.
After coming through 90 minutes unscathed in the Europa League match against Sparta Prague, the defender spoke to Sky Sport Italia.
"I worked so hard to get to this stage and I want to keep improving," he said. "I'm not quite 100% yet and when the boss thinks I'm up to the job I want to prove him right.”
Andreolli's comeback was all the more special as he was named captain for the occasion.
“I'd like to thank my team-mates for letting me have this small joy," he added.
“We trained well for this one. We wanted to honour the competition and do everything possible to win.
“We needed to produce a good performance and we put everything we had into it. We showed tonight that we're growing as a team.”
Finally, on Inter's switch to a three-man backline: “Playing three or four at the back makes little difference – the main thing is being able to read the different game situations.”
