Mauro Icardi reveals Luciano Spalletti “will chop our heads off” if Inter lose to Juventus in the manner they did last season.
Inter suffered a 1-0 defeat at Juve earlier in the year, which ended a run of seven straight wins for the Nerazzurri, and Icardi warned his teammates against letting the Old Lady putting pay to their momentum a second time.
Mauro Icardi reveals Luciano Spalletti “will chop our heads off” if Inter lose to Juventus in the manner they did last season.
Inter suffered a 1-0 defeat at Juve earlier in the year, which ended a run of seven straight wins for the Nerazzurri, and Icardi warned his teammates against letting the Old Lady putting pay to their momentum a second time.
“Compared to last season, the environment around the team has changed in every sense, and much of the credit goes to Spalletti and his feeling with the directors,” the striker told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“He has a very strong personality, he knows how to transmit what he wants from you immediately.
“He’s helped the dressing room a lot, he got into our heads and has changed a lot of things in this short period.
“Almost every Coach works well on the pitch, and Spalletti is truly great in this sense, but the difference can be seen, above all, off the pitch.
“That’s why I was talking about a different environment, a better climate. We went to preseason with Mancini, then De Boer arrived a few days before the start of the season and after him was Pioli.
“Now, however, everything is clearer around the team, and this has given calmness to the squad.
“Everyone’s been able to work in the best possible way. It’s been seen since our summer training camp… Everyone has the right mentality.
“We’re calm, concrete and certain, but now we need the fans. They know how to give us a hand in this sense.
“Juve-Inter? We must give continuity to what we have shown up to now. We’re not first by chance, but we must treat this game as another step on a long journey.
“There are always three points at stake, we can’t forget that. Of course, we know the meaning of such an encounter, but we must deal with it intelligently, without losing sight of our objectives.
“Last season? Well, if what happened last year happens again, the Coach will chop our heads off…
“Tension played tricks on us, but today we know how to handle every situation. I’m sure of that. We have the right mentality to face such a match.
“Objectives? Our Scudetto is qualifying for the Champions League, that’s what the club have asked us to do and we can’t miss out on this objective.
“Do the fans dream? It’s right that they’re dreaming, but we have a duty to be grounded and keep our feet on the ground.
“We want to bring home Champions League qualification first. After that, if we’re still up there three or four games before the end of the season, we’ll start thinking about even bigger things.
“With Mancini, we were top by the end of December but finished the season badly, in fourth place.”