New Inter Milan Head Coach Hails Team Recovery After Bad Beat In Champions League Final: 'Wonderful Response'

“Well, the full squad has only been together for two days,” Chivu stated. “The international players had a few days off.

“We’ve been trying to find the motivation and enthusiasm for this competition. The players’ response has been fantastic.

“They immediately made themselves available, despite the difficulties and the scars that remain from what happened at the end of May.

“But we move forward. We’re a team that wants to compete on every stage.

“We must not lose sight of the path we’ve taken, we need to live up to this competition.”

Meanwhile, Chivu doesn’t underestimate the importance of the Club World Cup.

“It’s not about emotion, it’s about the desire and curiosity to take part in a new kind of competition,” he added.

“This tournament has a certain charm, and the season isn’t over yet.

“We’ll try to be the best version of ourselves, continuing the team’s identity from recent years. We want to be worthy of such an important competition.”

New Signings & Set-up Changes

Petar Sucic and Luis Henrique are in contention for places in the starting line-up.

Indeed, both newcomers could make their Inter debuts tonight, even though the latter is still building up his fitness.

“They’ve just arrived, and I’m happy to see them on the pitch,” Chivu said.

“Luis Henrique had a few more days of vacation and is gradually building up his fitness.

“Petar was with his national team and has played matches, so he’s a bit more physically ready.

“We’ll see what decisions we make, but you’ll definitely see them during this tournament.”

Finally, the Romanian tactician discussed the possibility of altering Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 formation.

“In my opinion, people focus too much on numbers, systems, and formations.

“We’ll try to be a fluid, asymmetrical team.

“We want to maintain our core principles while improving and adding new ones without throwing away the good things built over the past years.

“Indeed, we’ll simply build on those foundations with a few added ideas.”