07/19/2020 - 13:30
- Clarín.com
- sports
Inter looks to continue fueling the dream of fighting for Italy's Serie A Scudetto when it visits toned Rome this afternoon at the capital's Olympic stadium.
The game that will close the day on Sunday in the capital will capture the attention of the date that started this Saturday: Atalanta equaled 1-1 with Hellas Verona and reached the Inter line, both six points away from Juventus.
But unlike the neroazzurro Bergamo , the neroazzurro Milan still did not play and could get close to the top if they win while praying because Lazio recover memory and defeat the leader of the championship in Turin.
Lautaro Martinez fights Gianluca Mancini, during the match between Inter Milan and Rome, for Serie A. (Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP).
That second option is announced as complicated since Simone Inzaghi's team has been in free fall since the tournament resumed (he lost four of his last five games), even though Juventus added only two points in three presentations.
The defeat with Milan was followed by a draw with Atalanta that allowed him to remain undefeated at home and then he was also saved from the defeat on the field of Sassuolo, who was about to beat the championship leader in injury time.
Nor is Inter's visit to the Olympic Stadio easily anticipated , not only because Antonio Conte's team also had ups and downs since the resumption of football, but because Rome is fighting to play the next Europa League.
Argentine striker Lautaro Martínez will start this afternoon at Inter to face Roma at Stadio Olimpico. (Photo: EFE / EPA / MATTEO BAZZI).
If the neroazzurro wins, he will mathematically ensure the classification to the next Champions League ; although Conte does not trust and warns: "The match with Roma has a high difficulty index."
"We had one less day to recover our energy, but we still traveled with enthusiasm," said the Inter coach, praising both the level of the "giallorosso" team and his Portuguese coach, Paulo Fonseca.
To Conte's delight, Inter recovers his Belgian scorer Romelu Lukaku , who celebrated 20 in the championship, but would start on the substitute bank so that the Argentinean Lautaro Martínez shares a pair of attack with the Chilean Alexis Sánchez .
Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Sánchez, the starting forward for Inter Milan to face Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. (Photo: AP / Luca Bruno).
Fonseca was also criticized at the time and today denied that there is any discomfort on the campus: "There is no problem as it is said from the outside. The team is fine and above all calm," he clarified.
Just in case, the Rome coach said he does not plan to change the system he has in mind if Lukaku were to start at Inter and stressed that the key will be to "push well up."
Fonseca's trump card, which also praised Conte, is the Bosnian Edin Dzeko, author of 15 goals in the championship and for whom he had not yet decided, he explained, who will be the attacking companion.
Diego Perotti, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Edin Dzeko celebrate a goal from Roma at Stadio Olimpico. (Photo; Andreas Solaro / AFP).
Confirmed loss of the youth Nicoló Zaniolo, who returned in the last game, but has an ailment in his left thigh and that is why he prefers not to risk it, clarifying that he has confidence in him, that they talked and that everything is fine.
There was talk of a supposed interdiction between the two, but the absence of Zaniolo responds to the physical difficulty, according to the coach, who will have Argentines Diego Perotti and Javier Pastore on the bench (Federico Fazio is not available).
Possible formations
The 11 of Rome : Pau López; Mancini, Ibáñez and Kolarov; Bruno Peres, Veretout, Cristante and Spinazzola; Pellegrini and Mkhitaryan, and Dzeko. DT: Paulo Fonseca.
Inter 11 : Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij and Bastoni; Candreva, Barellà, Brozovic and Young; Borja Valero; Alexis Sánchez and Lautaro Martínez. DT: Antonio Conte.
Antonio Conte, coach of Inter Milan. (Photo: Marco Bertorello / AFP).
Stadium : Olympic in Rome.
Hours : 4:45 p.m. (Argentine time).
TV : ESPN.
Referee : Marco Di Bello.
