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During his pre-match news conference leading up to Saturday’s match-up with Atalanta, Inter Milan coach Luciano Spalletti said the team is doing the right things to make a charge for the Champions League.
Heading into Saturday, Inter sit in fifth place – one point back of Roma and Lazio for the final Champions League spots.
“Everything is still in our hands, it all still depends on us,” Spalletti said in his news conference. “Me, the team and the whole environment at Inter, we all know fully well who we are and what our situation is. We’re where we expected to be and this is what we were aiming for at the start of the season. We’re prepared for this final rush.”
He said the team needed to get a result at Atalanta to keep their hopes of qualifying for European football alive.
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As for who Spalletti will have available for Saturday’s game, Antonio Candreva, Joao Miranda and Matias Vecino are all still day-to-day and he was not willing to say if any of the three will be ready for the match.
With regards to Dalbert, Spalletti emphasized he has faith in the youngster.
“He also needs the sense of calm to be able to show what he can do,” Spalletti said. “I think that anything could happen, we’ll see how the season finishes. Together with him and the club, we’ll make some decisions.”
He added that midfielder Rafinha is still an integral part of the scheme he has in mind for Inter. Rafinha is on loan from Barcelona and Inter will have to pay as much as €35 million at the end of the season to keep him at the San Siro.
“He has to be evaluated from time to time but he’s certainly a strong player and he’s currently in right shape to be picked for a strong team such as Inter,” Spalletti said.
Now, the focus is on Saturday at Atalanta. After squandering a chance to pick up points at Torino, the pressure is on Spalletti and the Nerazzurri to make up ground and regain a spot in the top four.
“For me, Italian football is improving step by step. The way that we’re currently working is good,” Spalletti said.
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