Inter director Beppe Marotta reveals he made Lazio ‘angry’ after poaching Simone Inzaghi, who has ‘proved himself to be a winning coach’ ahead of the Scudetto derby.
It kicks off at San Siro at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
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The Nerazzurri can get the Scudetto party started this evening with a victory, which would be an historic double blow to their arch-rivals, especially as this is a Milan ‘home’ fixture and so their fans are in the majority in the stadium.
“We have this historic objective and we are concentrated on achieving our 20th Scudetto,” Marotta told DAZN.
“If it were to arrive tonight, that would the cherry on the cake, but as the coach said, we are not obsessed with making it happen in the derby, but determined to have a good performance and get a great result.”
Marotta has experienced the Scudetto many times at Juventus first and now Inter, so does he get blasé about it?
“I am old now, but I’d never won a Scudetto in these circumstances, so yes it is emotional.”
This will be the first Serie A title as a coach for Inzaghi, who has put together plenty of silverware for Inter in the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.
When Antonio Conte walked away after winning the title, how did he choose Inzaghi?
“It was a decision made by all of us. He was in the sights of many directors, having proved at Lazio that he was a young coach growing and improving.
“It was a night full of danger too, because Claudio Lotito got very angry. It’s natural that after many years a coach wants to change scenery and we have since cleared the air with Lotito.
“Inzaghi has proved himself to be a winning coach, and that’s not to be taken for granted.”
Marotta’s second wind
He above all helped Inter reach the Champions League Final last season and always at least got to the Round of 16, which Conte never did.
“This era has just begun, we want to get important results that are suited to the history of this club,” added Marotta.
“I am thinking about the Champions League, but also the Club World Cup. Inter are back on the stage where they belong and we are proud of that.
“I’ll be honest, I did not expect my experience at Inter to be so wonderful and rich with success. From Conte to Inzaghi, we always had a very strong club behind us and created a model working group behind the scenes, which naturally helped the team.”