Two days before the scheduled match at San Siro between Inter and Napoli, Antonio Conte spoke at a press conference to present the clash to several journalists. For the coach from Lecce, it will be a return as a former player after having spent two years as a coach on the Nerazzurri’s bench, even winning a Scudetto. Also returning as an ex is Romelu Lukaku, about whom Conte seemed almost annoyed by the constant questions about his physical condition.
The following are the main excerpts from Conte’s conference:
INTER – “Surely, it always has a certain effect to return where you worked, where you worked hard. Surely it’s an emotional charge because you go back in time, so it is inevitable that many situations and episodes come back to your mind. It is certainly a nice effect to return where I have worked. Those were two happy years. The first year we came second and lost the Europa League final. The second year we won the Scudetto, so it was certainly a beautiful experience that I carry inside me, as well as all the past experiences because I always lived them to the fullest. I carry an emotional load with me.”
SCUDETTO CLASH – “There are three important points for them, and three important points for us. We are going to face a team that is everything that has proved in recent years. They’re undoubtedly the strongest team, it must be recognized that they have worked very well. Today they put themselves in a higher position than all other opponents. Credit should be given to them, they have made a great merit to them: from the directors, the coach, and the players, they have had exponential growth. We are going to play a match, we don’t go to San Siro to wave a white flag even before starting. We are going to play our cards. We are preparing the game to play it, we do not give away the three points even before playing. It will be an important test because we will measure ourselves against the best in the championship. It will be important to understand what kind of progress we are making, without forgetting that we come first in the standings. The goal is to stay on top of the leaderboard at the end of the match.”
LUKAKU – “In every conference, there is always a question about Lukaku, it becomes almost annoying. Lukaku’s growth depends on the team’s growth, but not only for Lukaku. I don’t believe that the individual is ever decisive to shift values, but the team. The individuals should be exalted, the combination of these things should lead us to be a strong team. The team must continue to grow, but from this point of view, I am confident because I see a lot of commitment. Reducing it to a single player is not fair to the others as well as to the individual player.”
LOBOTKA – “We all know his quality and value. We have to be good at trying to create something that can make up for a single absence or more. I think Gilmour has done very well in these matches, you will never hear me complain because this or that one is missing. We have a squad, we tried to make a squad to the extent possible, to compensate for some injuries. I have great confidence in all players. Lobotka has trained, he resumed training with us in mid-week. We managed him a little, but he’s fine and has recovered, he’s available. Whether he can start from the first minute or during the match, it’s all to be evaluated.”
