Marotta: ‘Inter respect Juventus, but have ambition to win’ | OneFootball

Inter President Beppe Marotta faces Juventus with ‘the utmost respect, but also the ambition to achieve maximum points’ and warns both have to be considered Scudetto contenders.

It kicks off at San Siro at 17.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s five Serie A games on the Liveblog.

The Nerazzurri are missing Hakan Calhanoglu, Carlos Augusto, Francesco Acerbi and Tajon Buchanan, so the big question mark was around the midfield playmaker.

Piotr Zielinski gets the nod rather than Kristjan Asllani, while Denzel Dumfries is the more attack-minded option on the right instead of Matteo Darmian.

Marotta ready for fiery Inter-Juventus

epa07233842 Inter’s Ceo Giuseppe Marotta (c) attends the Italian Serie A soccer match between FC Inter and Udinese Calcio at ‘Giuseppe Meazza’ stadium in Milan, Italy, 15 December 2018. EPA-EFE/MATTEO BAZZI

“It is always an extraordinary atmosphere and I hope this will be a positive advertisement for all Italian football around the world,” Marotta told Sky Sport Italia.

“This is the Derby d’Italia, Juve are historic rivals, we face them with the utmost respect, but also the ambition to achieve the maximum points. That is our spirit going into this game.”

All the clubs seem eager to shake off the tag of ‘favourites’ in the Scudetto race this season, so does Marotta do the same?

“Juventus, Milan and Inter, not to mention Roma and Napoli, are always obligated to compete going for the victory. Only one can win, but they have to at least be among the favourites every time. Juve are not Borgorosso,” he added, referring to a team in a famous Italian comedy film.

The Inter President has already said this season that UEFA and FIFA must work with the clubs and players’ associations to reduce the number of fixtures.

The growing injury list only intensified his call for that change.

“This is a season with more competitive games than we have ever seen, just like the last term ended with players who were utterly exhausted. Lautaro Martinez played the Copa America and arrived here for the opening match of the Serie A season without training,” reiterated Marotta.

“With so many games crammed together, it is not easy to deal with all these fixture, so we absolutely must find a resolution. I think there have been 100 injuries to players who have been on international duty and that is a huge number.

“The pace of the sport has also climbed, so there is an extraordinary amount of effort involved and it cannot be maintained over that many matches.”