Inter President Steven Zhang praises players and coach Simone Inzaghi and insists his target is to improve the team every year.
Zhang spoke to Sky Sport Italia after a 1-0 win over Milan at San Siro on Tuesday in a Champions League semifinal second leg. The Nerazzurri have won 3-0 on aggregate qualifying for their sixth-ever Final.
“Credit goes to the coach and the staff. Anything can happen in a Final, we believe in it and we can go in this direction,” said Zhang.
When Fabio Capello, a former Jiangsu Suning coach, asked him if he had already spoken to his father Zhang Jindong, Steven replied: “Not yet, I’ll call him later. He remains up until late to watch Inter games and if we don’t win he’ll give me pressure.”
The Nerazzurri have been struggling to balance the books after the COVID pandemic and have been forced to sell several stars during the last few years. So, what’s Inter’s plan for the future now that they’ve reached the Champions League Final?
“It’s our seventh year here, I arrived when I was 24, and there were players who had never played in the Champions League. Now we’ve reached the Final so we did our job, bringing Inter back to the top,” he said.
“As long as we are here, we’ll work every day to keep Inter in this position.
“The transfer market is always an opportunity to improve. I have many professionals around me and the results prove that we’ve always worked well,” Zhang continued.
“Until I am here, the target will be to build a better team for the next season, this is our only target.”
Simone Inzaghi has become the second Italian Inter coach to reach the Final of Europe’s elite competition after Giovanni Invernizzi in 1972.
“I’ve worked with many coaches even if I am only 31, surely Inzaghi is special, very special, very calm in every situation,” noted Zhang.
“Whether we win or lose, he’s always calm, maybe this is his greatest quality, he’s the only coach who doesn’t ask me for any player.”