Luciano Spalletti claims Inter’s Champions League clash with PSV on Tuesday is ‘the most important match since I’ve been here’.
Inter need to beat PSV and Tottenham Hotspur not to win at Barcelona to make sure of their place in the Champions League last 16, and Spalletti urged his players to only focus on their match at San Siro.
“We often fail to keep our concentration up for the whole game and when that happens, our opponents take advantage,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
Luciano Spalletti claims Inter’s Champions League clash with PSV on Tuesday is ‘the most important match since I’ve been here’.
Inter need to beat PSV and Tottenham Hotspur not to win at Barcelona to make sure of their place in the Champions League last 16, and Spalletti urged his players to only focus on their match at San Siro.
“We often fail to keep our concentration up for the whole game and when that happens, our opponents take advantage,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
“The team are fine. Juventus and Tottenham are two top teams, one’s been winning for 10 years, the other reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season.
“We played on par with Juve and, if anything, we dropped points against Parma and Atalanta.
“You can lose in Bergamo, but not how we did [a 4-1 defeat]. We must maintain a high level over 38 games, so we have to do better.
“Only serious people work for Barcelona. The only mistake we can make is if we focused on their game.
“We must think about winning our own, against a team who were in the third pot, whereas we were in the fourth.
“They’re also higher than us in their respective League. It’s the most important match since I’ve been here, even more than against Lazio last season.
“If, at the time of the draw, we were told we’d be playing for qualification against PSV and Tottenham had to face Barcelona, what would we have said? We’ve seen that the group’s very tough.
It’s still open to any outcome. We have the same calmness for Barcelona as Tottenham do for PSV, who’ll want to win here because they only have a few points.
“Vecino’s had a test and probably won’t be available. Nainggolan needs a few more days because he risks getting injured again.
“We’ll make assessments and study his problem further. Vecino’s problem seems difficult to solve.”
Spalletti was then asked about Mauro Icardi’s decision to travel to Madrid for the Copa Libertadores Final, right in between Inter’s Derby d’Italia defeat to Juventus and visit of PSV.
“Juventus delegates and Inter executives were also in Madrid, so I don’t see the problem,” he added.
“He could’ve gone to see another show with his wife if he wanted to.”