Inter Coach Simone Inzaghi: “Andrè Onana Starts Against Barcelona, Club & I Decided Together On Romelu Lukaku & Paulo Dybala” | OneFootball

Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi has confirmed that Andre Onana will start in goal for the team in tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Barcelona.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of the match, as reported by FCInterNews, the coach updated that Onana will start ahead of Samir Handanovic, and also spoke about the decision to sign Romelu Lukaku in the summer transfer window.

There has been some uncertainty between Onana and Handanovic, with the Cameroonian having started both of the Nerazzurri’s Champions League matches so far whilst the captain has retained his starting place.

Inzaghi was asked about his plans for tomorrow’s match and confirmed that it will be Onana who starts as he did against Bayern Munich and Viktoria Plzen.

“I’m evaluating it one match at a time, Onana will start tomorrow,” the coach said.

Asked about the condition of striker Lautaro Martinez, Inzaghi updated that “This morning he underwent some tests and nothing was flagged up.”

“He finished last match with some fatigue, he’ll complete a partial training session.”

“I’ll have to talk to the club doctors and see about his condition,” he continued. “We’ll be without Brozovic and Lukaku, Lautaro and Gagliardini will be evaluated.”

As for how the team is working to get past their poor start to the season, the coach said “We’re doing what we’ve said, yesterday was a more intense training season for those who didn’t play, and more relaxed for the others who did.”

“We ‘ll analyze the match against Roma and then go into more detail on Barcelona.”

“We ‘re coming out of a difficult period in terms of results,” the coach admitted.

“In my opinion we had a good match,” he said of Saturday’s loss to Roma, “which unfortunately was characterized by a couple individual episodes where we conceded.”

“We would have deserved more based on the pitch, but this is a period in which we have to do more,” Inzaghi stressed.

The coach argued that the team must overcome their early difficulties “With wins and with results.”

“Tomorrow is a great opportunity,” he continued, “we come up against a very strong team, one of the best in Europe, who didn’t deserve to lose in Munich.”

“They have very high quality in every position,” Inzaghi said of the Blaugranas.

“Well have to play a match of intensity and determination,” he continued.

“We need to get back to winning ways, we could have done so on Saturday but the result didn’t prove to be in our favour.”

Of the conditions of the Argentines who returned late from international duty, Inzaghi said that “We’ll evaluate Lautaro, Correa is doing fine.”

“We have eleven games to play, once every three days,” he noted. “I hope to have a full squad available.”

“We have had some problems,” the coach continued, “Brozovic and Lukaku will still be out for some time, but I have other players I can rely on.”

He noted that “Barcelona are very strong, they’re one of the teams that play the best football in Europe.”

“We know that everything is to play for, the table is open right now,” he went on.

Inzaghi stressed that “This group is hugely difficult, but we’re Inter and we’ll put everything into trying to progress out of it.”

Continuing about tomorrow’s opposition, the coach said that “They’re a complete, very strong team, they know how to do everything well.”

“They’re organized, they’re better at winning the ball back than anyone in Europe.”

“They can play well both in and out of possession, and then they also added Lewandowski,” he added.

The coach admitted that “We know the difficulty of the match.”

“We have already paid the price for a gap in quality against Bayern even despite playing a good match.”

“We weren’t quite up to the task in the key moments,” he continued, “we had to defend better on Sane’s goal, and we should have done better with the opportunities we had.”

“Tomorrow we have a face opponent,” he reiterated, “we’ll have to limit their opportunities and  then pick the right moments to hurt them.”

Asked if he thinks Kristjan Asllani is ready for tomorrow’s match after starting against Roma, Inzaghi said that “I think we should wait and see with everyone.”

“It’s not an easy moment, singling out one player or another is wrong,” he continued.

“Even from myself it’s entirely fair to expect more,” Inzaghi acknowledged.

“Asllani had a good match,” he said, “for tomorrow we’ll see what his condition is like but he’s ready to play.”

Of the situation at the club with himself and the directors, the coach said that “I have a club and an owner with who all go in the same direction with me.”

“We’ve been working in this way for a year and a half with daily meetings,” he continued.

“With Lukaku and Dybala we made a choice together,” he said of the decision to sign the Belgian rather than the Argentine in the summer.

“I’ve already said that regarding my situation, we as coaches are always dependent on results,” he continued, “if those don’t arrive then the coach is the first to be questioned. I’m used to it.”

Asked if he feels that Francesco Acerbi is now first-choice in the centre of the back three ahead of Stefan de Vrij, Inzaghi said that “He’s come into the team well, he’s a quality player, but I’m not going to turn by back on de Vrij who also did very well for two seasons prior to my arrival.”

“Tomorrow he has a real chance of playing from the start,” he said of the Dutchman.

Regarding the sense that the Nerazzurri look fearful and apprehensive after making errors, Inzaghi simply said that “That’s the moment we’re in right now.”

“I see the match against Roma again and tactically, as far as the match, I don’t see the impact it will have on us,” he continued.

“The team has a lot of desire, we’re at a great club and on Sunday 70,000 fans came and pushed us on despite the difficulties we’re having,” he emphasized. “Right the very end.”

“Surely the team is suffering because there aren’t enough points in the table and there’s a lack of certainty.

“It’s clear that we can’t make that mistake on the second goal that we conceded,” he admitted.

“There were seven of us in the box, we left two gaps that we don’t normally leave,” he continued.

“We had worked for twenty minutes on dead ball situations just the day before,” Inzaghi added.

Inzaghi closed by stating that “We have to do better, but the guys always leave everything on the pitch.