Diego Milito praises Andrea Stramaccioni for changing Inter’s season and reveals the problems he had over a chaotic campaign.
Diego Milito praises Andrea Stramaccioni for changing Inter’s season and reveals the problems he had over a chaotic campaign.
The Nerazzurri are still technically in the running for a Champions League spot and must hope they beat Lazio” data-scaytid=”4″>Lazio while Udinese” data-scaytid=”5″>Udinese lose in Catania on Sunday.
“We we particularly fired up,” he told La Repubblica after scoring a hat-trick in the 4-2 win.
“It’s not that we weren’t motivated before, but the derby is a special game for everyone, both on the pitch and off it. We wanted to give satisfaction to our fans after a difficult year.
“Scoring in a derby is a strange sensation, I won’t deny it, but it is in the past now. I don’t know if I break records or even how many goals I’ve scored in my career.
“I had some problems in the first few months of the season. I played all the time under Gian Piero Gasperini, then Claudio Ranieri arrived and things changed. I was often on the bench and when a player can’t find consistency, he loses confidence. I broke my deadlock against Lecce at the end of December and things improved after the winter break.
“Working with three different Coaches complicates everything for us players, because each tactician brings in a new mentality, new style of football and working methods. It’s hard to adapt quickly.
“I was disappointed that both those Coaches left. Clearly all of us players could’ve given more, but we never step on to the field to lose or not do what is asked of us. Sometimes things just go wrong.
“Of course a Coach is important in every respect: tactical, technical, motivational and psychological. At times all it takes is one word to get important results from a player, but you have to know how to communicate it.”
Inter have lost just once since Stramaccioni was promoted from the youth team, despite the fact he is younger than captain Javier Zanetti.
“Obviously I didn’t know him, as none of us did,” continued Milito. “For someone who is only 36 years old he has really surprised me. The Coach is well prepared, knew how to impose his personality on the team, showed confidence and gave us confidence too.
“Of course things have changed on the pitch, as he wants a team that is always the protagonist and attacks first. Just the fact he fields three strikers is important, both for our opponents who need to be more wary and for us as we have more options.”
Now Inter go head-to-head with Lazio on Sunday and still have the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League if Udinese and Napoli lose.
“We want to win and live in hope. There isn’t much of a chance, but we are still in there. I don’t want to think of the possibility of a preliminary round, as if we beat Lazio then we’ll be at least in fifth place and therefore don’t have to go through that for the Europa League.”