Inter director Beppe Marotta said they are ‘proud to represent Italy’ in the Europa League semi-final with Shakhtar Donetsk and hinted they’re just getting started with Antonio Conte.

It kicks off at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT) with the winners facing Sevilla in the Final.

Click here for the line-ups and LIVEBLOG.

Inter director Beppe Marotta said they are ‘proud to represent Italy’ in the Europa League semi-final with Shakhtar Donetsk and hinted they’re just getting started with Antonio Conte.

It kicks off at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT) with the winners facing Sevilla in the Final.

Click here for the line-ups and LIVEBLOG.

“Reaching the Final would be the right reward for the work done by the coach, players and club over the last year, and also bring Inter back to the prestige they deserve,” Marotta told Sky Sport Italia.

With President Steven Zhang arriving in Germany to be with the team and meet Conte, has the situation been resolved between coach and club?

“There are typical dynamics of a sporting outfit, it’s perfectly normal and all forgotten. Having President Zhang here is always a positive, I saw the right motivation and concentration from everyone to reach the Final,” assured Marotta.

“We are also proud to be representing Italy, which is further recognition for an entirely anomalous season. Reaching this stage in such good shape is further testament to the good work of the club, players and staff.”

The director’s comments made very clear that Inter believe they are just getting started with Conte, rather than thinking about a change.

“We mustn’t forget we only started work with this coach in July, whereas other teams maintained consistency with their tacticians from one or more seasons before that. It inevitably takes some time for the technical and tactical understanding to develop, so doing this well can only bode well for the future as we continue to grow.

“We’re playing a one-off semi-final rather than home and away legs, which again is anomalous. Having said that, we have seen the deserving four teams reach the Europa League semi-final and they earned their place in the final four.

“Many of our players are at their first experience in major European competitions, so we’ve seen them adapt and grow as the season went on. There were some moments of naivety, for example taking the lead and then losing to Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, but we used all of those as teachable moments to learn, grow and improve our experience.”

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