Andrea Stramaccioni celebrates Antonio Cassano’s return and warns Inter “could be Napoli’s ideal victims,” but again shoots down Wesley Sneijder.
Andrea Stramaccioni celebrates Antonio Cassano’s return and warns Inter “could be Napoli’s ideal victims,” but again shoots down Wesley Sneijder.
The Sunday evening showdown at San Siro is between third and second, a potentially decisive battle in the Scudetto race chasing leaders Juventus” data-scaytid=”6″>Juventus. Cassano is back after his two-match ban for insulting the referee, though Walter Samuel is now suspended.
“Cassano has been missed, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on to his return. He is a resource on a tactical level, but also in terms of personality,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
“With players like Cassano, Rodrigo Palacio and Diego Milito, we have various different strategies available to us.”
However, Sneijder skipped training on Friday due to a mystery injury and is again left out of the squad to face Napoli amid a contract dispute.
“Sneijder is absolutely fine, he just had a small physical niggle, but now he’s in condition to play,” confirmed Stramaccioni.
“Inter do tend to do better against the big clubs, as the games we won gave us more belief. The points dropped against smaller sides are my biggest regret. We learned from the defeats, although I saw no specific reason for them.
“If we’re not careful with regards to certain situations, we could become Napoli’s ideal victims. Their strengths coincide with our weaknesses. Of course, we have worked on this in the hope it won’t happen.
“Edinson Cavani is a great professional and proving himself to be among the best strikers in the world. He has unique characteristics, combining quality and physicality, while he also helps off the ball. He is the prototype of the modern striker.”
Inter squad for Napoli: 1 Handanovic, 12 Castellazzi, 27 Belec; 4 Zanetti, 6 Silvestre, 23 Ranocchia, 28 Pasa, 31 Pereira, 33 Mbaye, 40 Juan Jesus, 55 Nagatomo; 14 Guarin, 17 Mariga, 19 Cambiasso, 21 Gargano, 24 Benassi, 41 Duncan, 52 Romanò; 7 Coutinho, 8 Palacio, 22 Milito, 88 Livaja, 99 Cassano