UEL, Stramaccioni: "Focus needed against Rubin"

APPIANO GENTILE – "Rubin
Kazan are certainly the best-equipped side in our group," Andrea
Stramaccioni opined as he spoke to the press ahead of Inter’s UEFA Europa League Matchday 1
fixture against the Russian outfit tomorrow.

"Their coach, Berdyev, is an icon. Five of
their team are the same as those who played against Inter in 2009. I’ve
watched their games, including those against Inter, and they are set
out the same way. Inter are taking this match very seriously, we’re
ready and fully focused. We want to win every game and go all the way
in this competition."

Will there be any changes with Sunday’s Serie A encounter with
Siena in mind? "I’ll rest a few players because the fixture list doesn’t get any easier after Sunday. Afterwards we have Chievo then Fiorentina. If we need
to recharge anyone’s batteries we have to do it between Thursday and
Sunday."

Stramaccioni also explained Rodrigo Palacio’s
exclusion from the squad for tomorrow’s game. "Palacio is a bit of bad
news for us. It would be risky to field him tomorrow but we hope to have
him back for Sunday because he’s a key player for us. He’s feeling a
bit under the weather, so we decided to leave him out."

The coach
also took a sideways glance at the Primavera team, who begin their defence of the NextGen Series this afternoon: "It’s a competition that
looks to the future and provides academies with the opportunity to test their mettle against
others. It was an incredible experience for Inter’s lads last year.
There’s huge interest in this tournament. Good luck to the boys out
there today and try not to give away as many as I did in my first
game. That shouldn’t be too hard though – I conceded seven…" the coach
smiled.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *