The Derby Della Madonnina will decide the winner of the Italian Super Cup in Riyadh, this Monday evening, at 8:00 p.m. Simone Inzaghi et Lautaro Martinez spoke at a press conference, Sunday January 5, 2025at Inter TV: For better readability, Lautaro's interview will be transcribed in a second article
The last meeting against Conceiçao dates back to the double confrontation against Porto in 2023, a match which ended under high tension, what type of Milan do you expect?
“The Derby is a special, emotional meeting, it also involves a trophy, it's the 13thth in play as a personL. I remember wonderful matches, that of April 22, the one disputed here in Riyadh, two years agobut also the last one that we deserved to lose in the championship: We are well aware that we must no longer repeat this type of error : we have quality players and we clearly know what we have to do.”
Have you spoken with Conceiçao again since Porto-Inter?
“Non, but there was never really a problemwe lived so many years together with Sergio, in sharing the same locker room and victories together with Erikssona great Maestro who conditioned and inspired so many players on this team to take this road of becoming a coach.”
How much has Milan changed?
“I know the principles de Conceiçao, He is a trainer who advocates a vertical game with a great sense of organization : These teams never give uphis team deserved qualification in the second half against Juventus.”
How important is Lautaro for the Group?
“Lautaro's importance is evident : He manages the Captain's Armband in the best way, the other evening, he had a great match, I was a striker, I was weaker than him, and I know what happens when you can't score goals. Against Atalanta, he played very well, he didn't score, but he worked a lot. I see him working in the best way every daywhich is the most important, it is that the team wins and that the proposed game is goodwe all know that he will give us a big helping hand until the end of the match.”
We have the perception that his teammates are trying to make him score a goal, could this prove counterproductive?
“I think that in all my teams, we have always tried to make the attackers scorebut in reality, here everyone scoreswe always seek to achieve as much as possible: Our midfielders and defenders also score a lot of goalsthe important thing is to continue to produce goal balls.”
How important is Riyadh to you? You who are here for the third time?
“It would be important to win again, it would be the third time in a row here in Riyadh, and it would be the fourth Super Cup in a row : Since last year it has become harder to go home with the Cup because they are two matches to be played in the space of four days : We know that we will face a worthy opponent who will have the same desire to win as we do.”
The affection of the Tifosi Nerazzurri has never been lacking, not even here in Riyadh…..
“It makes us happy to have so many Tifosi here in Saudi Arabia, they have given us so much warmth, we will give everything we have in our stomach on the fieldbeing aware of the difficulties that an organized and quality team facing us will represent.”
In preparation for the match, how much will Thuram's absence weigh?
“I would see, how Thuram's training went this Sundayhe will try to train. When we return, we will have 6 matches to be played in 18 daysI will make my evaluations but I wouldn't take any risks.”
Is there a particular Milan player to keep an eye on?
“There are so many quality players at Milan, we studied their games, but we stay focused on ourselves : We analyzed the Derby of the first leg and their meeting against Juventus, we will have to show us good at handling the ball in the best possible way.”
®Antony Gilles – Internazionale.fr
