Before the kick-off of Inter-Fiorentina, Walter Zenga spoke to the microphones of Sky Sport about the Nerazzurri’s current moment, focusing in particular on the pair of left wingers and on Chivu’s management of squad rotation.

At the center of the discussion is the performance of Carlos Augusto, who started in place of Dimarco: “It’s not easy to become a starter with Dimarco around, but he has shown great growth and is putting up numbers that remind us of two years ago, with still room for improvement. He can play in two different positions and depending on the difficulty of the match you can decide where to use him.”

On Dimarco’s absence, Zenga offered a personal take: “If a player is doing as well as Carlos Augusto is showing, it’s also right for Dimarco to sit out. It’s not extraordinary for a footballer to stop and rest every now and then, because maybe he could also have personal issues, maybe like a contract to renew. All these little things can lead a player to have a dip in performance. Last year he made 18 assists.”

The former goalkeeper then touched on the topic of Bastoni: “This allows Bastoni to play in his role with Carlos Augusto on that side, because I don’t like him as a center-back. I don’t want to criticize Chivu for this, heaven forbid, but I prefer Alessandro on the left center.”

On the rotation in goal and the possible starting spot for Provedel even against Venezia, Zenga brought his own direct experience: “If you have sixty matches in a year and your goalkeeper gets injured, you have a backup who has never played. It’s right to let him get familiar with the pitch. Even if the training pitch is the same, when you enter a match the goal seems bigger: it’s a really strange thing, but it’s true. He played a good match against Shakhtar and so it makes sense for Provedel to be in goal.”

On the attacking department, the verdict was clear: “Inter is the only team in Italy that has interchangeable forwards and never lowers the quality. They keep everyone under pressure, whoever comes in. The others don’t have this strength.”

He closed with a mention of Mkhitaryan: “You’re talking about a professional who trains with great attention. He doesn’t use football to live, but lives for football. I compare him, perhaps disrespectfully, to Ronaldo, who at 41 continues to score and has an amazing physique. These are players that younger ones should look up to in order to understand how much you have to do to extend your career.”

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