APPIANO GENTILE – Tomorrow at 20:45 CET Inter will face off against Atalanta for the 26th matchday of Serie A. Ahead of the challenge at San Siro (click here for some interesting facts and figures regarding the match), Antonio Conte answered questions from the journalists who tuned in.


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Tomorrow will be a clash between the best attacks of the league, but concerning another area, namely, defence, could you tell us more about the great spell that your team has had recently?

I think that every team needs to have a good balance between their defence and their attack, and involve all of the players in both departments, to make them understand the importance of each and bring home stellar results. This said, I think that the winner of tomorrow’s game will be whichever team attacks better on the day.

Tactically speaking, is this your most difficult challenge?

It is undoubtedly difficult because we are coming up against a team that make it hard for everyone, in both the Champions League and the Serie A, where they have won the most against the big sides. It’s a clear reality, they are well aware of their abilities and their strong players, be they starting players or substitutes, such as Muriel who comes on so often and makes a huge impact in tough games. Gasperini is doing an amazing job, the team follows him and I am happy for him and Atalanta, who I also, although not for very long, once coached.

Are you happy with what you’re building?

We have to be proud of the fact that we have always worked hard and put 110% effort in, we feel obliged to do this, and it is our duty to such a prestigious club and its fans to leave everything on the pitch, this will has always been with us and we will continue to work for the club, the fans and ourselves.

How significant would a victory be for you tomorrow?

Atalanta have been for a while now the team that manage to beat all of the big Italian clubs, and this gives them strength, self-confidence and awareness. It’s inevitable that when you manage to equal or beat dominant squads, you’ll realise that you’re on the right path, I don’t know how much we’ll need to do but it’ll mean we’re on the right path.


Lots of people say that Inter are the favourites. Is it more difficult to keep the team focussed with this broad consensus in the air?

My teams always play to win, whether they are the favourites or the underdogs. I have never hidden from anything, even when starting off as an underdog in the past, the objective has always been to win, and then win again, but whether we are favourites or underdogs matters little.

After the first leg at Atalanta Inter have won 47 points out of a possible 54, a very high level of performance. What changed?

We also did well last season, and adding our performances to those of this season I think means we have done better than everyone, nothing has changed, maybe it is more that those who were ahead of us have slowed down a little, which has given room to other teams like AC Milan, Roma and Atalanta. I think that it’s this which has changed, because we also performed well last season.