Interviewed in the morning on Rai Radio 1, the president of Inter Beppe Marotta, fresh from his first Scudetto won in this role, spoke about various topics. Below are his statements.
Coaching change – “From Inzaghi to Chivu, all in all, little has changed. We have given continuity to a project, to a model that we have been carrying forward for a few years. I underline with humility and pride the fact that this management has won three Scudetti in the last five years with three different coaches: Conte, Inzaghi and now Chivu. The ownerships were different, but both gave broad delegation to the management. We have built a model, which contains important values and which has given these three great professionals the opportunity to deservedly win the Scudetto.”
Fabregas – “I want to be precise on this point. I have great respect for Fabregas, he is very good, he is one of the emerging coaches. But there was only a preliminary contact, we never went further. We chose Chivu also because on the other side there were objective impediments. Chivu represented the profile we were looking for, he was suited to the reference model of Inter in these seasons.”
Doubts about Chivu – “I must say that we never had any doubts, also because it is in my culture not to use the tool of dismissal. In more than 25 years of experience in Serie A I have never dismissed a coach during the season. The coach is the leader of the group, an important component, to whom responsibilities and faults are often attributed that he does not have. The defeats at the beginning of the season did not coincide with negative performances: against Udinese at home we deserved to win, in Turin against Juve we were ahead ten minutes from the end. We continued strong in the knowledge that next to him there was a very strong team and a club that has always supported him.”
Champions League – “Honestly, the Champions League is an extraordinary goal that everyone would like to win. In ten years I have had the fortune and misfortune of reaching the final four times, unfortunately I lost them with two different teams. The Champions League is an achievement I am missing, it would be wonderful to reach it, but you can’t complain. Next year we will try to improve our performances in this competition.”
Bastoni – “Alessandro is a talent. He was unlucky in certain episodes, all eyes were on him. He was the protagonist of that naive simulation in Inter-Juve and he was the first to realize it. We helped him, because that’s the right thing to do: when a young player makes a mistake, it’s good to correct him so that he can start again as if it never happened. I believe he is a great champion, and he is being watched by prestigious clubs in Europe. I do not hide that there is interest from Barcelona, but it is still very superficial and not concrete. As we have always said, a player leaves when he expresses the desire to go. At this moment Bastoni is our player, he wants to stay and we are happy to keep him with us.”
Coppa Italia – “Inter is part of that circle of important clubs in Europe that must participate in competitions to always try to win them. We deserved to reach the final, we want to honor it in the best possible way. It would be wonderful for us and especially for Chivu if we managed to win this competition as well and have the right to have this little star for the ten Coppa Italia trophies won by Inter. An important and fascinating appointment, we will try to honor it in the best possible way.”
