Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi feels confident that midfielder Marcelo Brozovic will be fit and available for this weekend’s Serie A clash with city rivals AC Milan.
Speaking in a press conference after the Nerazzurri’s Coppa Italia win over Atalanta, as reported by FCInterNews, the coach also noted the fact that the Nerazzurri would likely be in the title race in any other league than Serie A where leaders Napoli appear to be running away with it.
Inter have just made it to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia, but they will hardly have any time to catch their breath.
In just a few days, the Nerrazurri will take to the pitch against city rivals Milan in the derby, and they will be desperate to get all three points from that match.
Coach Inzaghi will be hoping to have as many players available to him as possible, with a key question mark being the fitness of midfielder Brozovic.
For his part, Inzaghi feels that there is a good chance that the Croat will be ready to play against the Rossoneri.
The coach was asked about the form of Andre Onana, and he responded that “He’s in very good form, he’s showing a consistent level of performance in his first season at Inter.”
“We didn’t have Handanovic available,” he noted, “we’re waiting for both him and Brozovic to recover.”
“I’m confident, I hope to be able to have them both fit and available on Sunday,” he continued, “they both trained at full capacity without any physical problems, and we know we’ll need everyone for the packed fixture list.”
Of the performances by the players who were rotated into the team against Atalanta, Inzaghi said that “de Vrij, Lukaku, and all the other players did well this evening.”
“We played a match with great organization and intensity, we played well for 95 minutes against a top team,” he noted.
“We wanted to reach the semifinal in front of our fans, it was a brilliant evening, and now we’ll have to put it aside and focus on the next match,” Inzaghi added.
“We’re proud to be the only Italian team still fighting on all fronts, we’ll go into the semifinal in the best way possible,” he said.
“It was a costly match in terms of energy,” he said of the win over La Dea, “Atalanta are a team who make you expend energy, but we controlled the tempo well, we deserved to reach the semifinal.”
“The guys did well to put into practice the gameplan we prepared against an opponent who are in form and can make life difficult for anyone,” the coach went on.
Of the importance of winning the Coppa Italia for Inter, Inzaghi said that “Winning the Coppa Italia is a goal for us every season, in the league we’re a ways back due to some slip-ups, but we’ve never seen a team like this Napoli.”
“In any other league we’d be in the running for the title, when you look at the points that the league leaders have,” he noted.
“Congratulations to Napoli for the progress they’ve made,” Inzaghi closed.
More must-reads: