Frank de Boer insists Inter are focused on beating Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday, not Sunday’s Derby d’Italia against Juventus.
Much of the build-up to Inter’s Europa League opener against Hapoel has been overshadowed by the weekend’s clash with Juve, but De Boer made it clear his side were not being distracted by the latter.
“We want to win, it’s important to continue [winning] after Sunday,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
Frank de Boer insists Inter are focused on beating Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday, not Sunday’s Derby d’Italia against Juventus.
Much of the build-up to Inter’s Europa League opener against Hapoel has been overshadowed by the weekend’s clash with Juve, but De Boer made it clear his side were not being distracted by the latter.
“We want to win, it’s important to continue [winning] after Sunday,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
“We want to win all our home games in the group so we reach nine points, it’s our objective.
“Current technology allows you to know your opponents. We respect Hapoel, they came close to qualifying for the Champions League, playing against teams like Olympiakos and Celtic.
“They have quality in their team and are certainly a very serious group.”
The Italian Press believes Inter may field a weakened team against Hapoel in light of the weekend’s Derby d’Italia versus Juventus, but De Boer hit back: “Absolutely not.
“It’s normal that Sunday’s game is being talked about a lot, but we’ve prepared well for tomorrow night’s challenge and we also want to show this to our fans.
“Then we’ll think about the game against Juventus. Winning tomorrow is very important, it would be the first step in our qualifying group.
“We created many chances [against Pescara], that’s what we should always do, but there’s always room for improvement as we gave too much to our opponents.”
So has the atmosphere at Inter changed since beating Pescara?
“Of course, after a victory it’s always different,” he noted.
“Now we want to go on after this victory, although it’s normal in this sport that things can change very quickly and easily.
“The atmosphere is different, we wanted to win and that’s what we needed, especially mentally. We also want to win tomorrow, so we must work hard.”