Sampdoria Coach Walter Zenga concedes facing Inter and Roberto Mancini “cannot be a game like any other.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“I say this with absolute sincerity and affection. Inter represented 22 years of my life. If I said they were an opponent like any other, I wouldn’t respect myself or my history,” said Zenga in a Press conference.
Sampdoria Coach Walter Zenga concedes facing Inter and Roberto Mancini “cannot be a game like any other.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“I say this with absolute sincerity and affection. Inter represented 22 years of my life. If I said they were an opponent like any other, I wouldn’t respect myself or my history,” said Zenga in a Press conference.
“Of course, Sampdoria was also part of my history and is my present. I am concentrated on doing well now, although it cannot be a game like any other.
“In the past I also said I’d have loved to be an Inter Coach and I was pleased to be linked with that bench in the past, but when I arrived here I pointed out this was no stepping stone. I know the value of this shirt and what it means to work and sweat for it.”
It was during his time as Sampdoria goalkeeper that Zenga was a teammate of current Inter boss Mancini.
“Thinking back to the ads we used to film together in this stadium too, I think we’ll burst out laughing. I started playing with Mancini in the Under-21 side.
“He wrote history in Genoa and if it weren’t for Koeman’s free kick in extra time for Barcelona, he’d have won the Champions League with this club too.
“With a little more luck, that generation of Italy players could’ve been the 90s equivalent of Spain today.”