It’s fair to say things haven’t gone to plan for Inter Milan since booking its place in the semifinals with a draw against Bayern Munich two weeks ago.
Since then, Inter has played three domestic matches – and lost all three.
Defeats to Bologna and Roma in Serie A have handed Napoli the advantage in a nail-biting title race, while a 3-0 hammering as the home team against bitter rival AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals ended Nerazzurri hopes of a historic treble.
But Inter manager Simone Inzaghi, who guided the team to the Champions League final against Manchester City two seasons ago, has backed his players to bounce back in the first leg against Barcelona and put those recent disappointments behind them.
“For four years, these players have done and continue to do extraordinary things,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“What happened last week doesn’t erase all the work we’ve done. We’ve made it this far, it’s been an exciting season, and while we could have done better in the last few matches, we’re here competing for these goals after four years.
“When you’re about to play a Champions League semifinal, you can’t say it’s the toughest moment. There’s a lot of enthusiasm.
“We’ve had a rough week, and we need to do more and do it better, but we’re excited to play tomorrow’s match against one of the strongest and most attacking teams around. We’ll need to make sacrifices and be technically clean.”
