Woe to give up. In view of Inter – Atalanta the message is loud and clear: anything is still possible, just believe in it. And so Andrea Stramaccioni chose a Tony D'Amato approach (remember Al Pacino in "Any Given Sunday"?) to present tonight's postponement. “I don't give up anything and even the boys think like me. With Atalanta it will be a key match. The team is loaded, nobody has lost faith here. We need the support of our people who have certainly understood the moment and will stand by us. There are direct clashes on this day of the championship that could give us a hand in case of victory. Never give in to bad luck: we don't do that."
Despite injuries and classification, the Nerazzurri coach still believes in conquering third place, which at this point would be equivalent to an extraordinary feat. “We don't want to deceive the fans – Strama pointed out, however. – The conditions are difficult, but between now and the last match against Udinese everyone will give their all to get as many points as possible. At least we can promise that." The rest will be seen, also because there are many difficulties. The injuries continue to undermine the (few) certainties of this coach who is playing for Massimo Moratti's confirmation. The last one was really heavy. Rodrigo Palacio was the fittest man in the team and was keeping it going despite all the problems. But the second-degree lesion of the left hamstring will force him into the pits, probably until the end of the season.
“The muscle injury he has unfortunately causes a long stop, it's not up to me to quantify the times, however, with one month and ten days left until the end of the championship, this is a bad blow for us. I've read that there would be hopes for him to recover in a short time. It's not like that and writing it means deluding the fans, just like with the Mourinho story." In short, the season finale will be played with only Cassano and Rocchi, starting with the match against Atalanta, in which Strama will field both of them. “Without Palacio, the solutions could include an Inter with a central striker or with a couple up front. Rocchi is an area player, Cassano has other characteristics. We can choose the form, we will evaluate, but with such a complicated and close match I will keep the structure of these last few races".
Compared to Wednesday's match against Sampdoria, however, the game system will change. After resting Samuel, Strama will return to the three-man defence, relaunching a rather offensive line-up. In addition to the two forwards mentioned above, Kovacic and Guarin will be there to try to undermine the Atalanta defence. “The team is fine, facing the players from Bergamo won't be easy, they arrive with a very good psychological situation. We are returning from two very intense matches with Juventus and Sampdoria, but we have to respect this appointment. We come to this game with great desire and great anger, we want to win again at home." But beware of Atalanta, who will be present at San Siro with another motivation: to honor the former president Ivan Ruggeri, who died yesterday at the age of 68.
POSSIBLE FORMATIONS
Inter (3-4-1-2): Handanovic; Ranocchia, Samuel, Juan Jesus; Zanetti, Kovacic, Cambiasso, Pereira; Guarin; Rocchi, Cassano.
On the bench: Carrizo, Belec, Silvestre, Pasa, Jonathan, Kuzmanovic, Alvarez, Benassi, Schelotto.
Coach: Andrea Stramaccioni.
Out: Obi, Mudingayi, Milito, Castellazzi, Chivu, Nagatomo, Stankovic, Palacio.
Suspended: Gargano (1).
Be wary: Palacio, Cambiasso.
Atalanta (4-4-2): Politus; Scaloni, Standard, Canini, Del Grosso; Raimondi, Cigarini, Biondini, Bonaventura; Livaya, Denis.
On the bench: Frezzolini, Contini, Ferri, Giorgi, Radovanovic, Troisi, Carmona, Cazzola, Brivio, Parra, Brienza, De Luca.
Coach: Stefano Colantuono.
Unavailable: Bellini, Budan, Moralez, Marilungo.
Suspended: Lucchini (1), Consiglio (1).
Be wary: Moralez, Cigarini, Raimondi, Denis.
Referee: Andrea Gervasoni (Mantua).
Line assistants: Maggiani – De Luca.
Goalkeeper assistants: Massa – Candussio.
Fourth man: Barberati.
