Leonardo: My heart was racing

Inter Milan’s Leonardo said his side’s near-miss in their 3-2 victory over Palermo got his heart pounding in the Serie A on Sunday.

The European and Italian champions trailed at the San Siro 2-0, before debutant Giampaolo Pazzini got Inter’s first goal in the second half.

They were spared another life when J Pastore had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Julio Cesar, before Pazzini equalised and striker Samuel Eto’o finished off the comeback with a 76th-minute penalty.

The Brazilian boss admitted he was in panic mode at half-time, but praised the performance of the visitors, who left empty-handed.

“It’ll take a little more time for my heart rate to get over this match,” Leonardo said.

“That was a spectacular game. If it had been another result, then nobody could’ve said Palermo didn’t deserve it. They are a great side and created a good nine or 10 scoring opportunities in the first half alone.”

“After the break my team needed courage and character. Julio Cesar passed a late fitness test to start, Pazzini scored twice on his debut and Douglas Maicon had an extraordinary performance.”

“There are so many positives from this match. We can try the trident attack, as there are many alternatives. The work Samuel Eto’o did in the second half was crazy.”

Palermo boss Delio Rossi said his side underestimated Inter Milan’s fighting abilities to recover from a two-goal deficit.

“It was such a great performance against a world-class squad, but we were na?ve, because we had the game in our hands,” he said.

“We had the chances to seal it, but those we wasted also must make us understand that at a certain level we’ve got to do better. We threw away a huge opportunity.”

“We must improve in our efficiency, as it’s not enough to just play beautiful football. We have progressed, though clearly we lack experience.”

Mon 31 January, 2011

Leonardo: Inter need no extra motivation

Inter Milan coach Leonardo is counting on the intimidating atmosphere of the Stadio San Paolo to fire up his players for the trip to Napoli.

Coppa Italia holders Inter are away to Napoli – second in the Serie A table – in a quarter-final on Wednesday, with a place in the last four at stake.

Inter suffered their first defeat under Leonardo on Sunday, going down 3-1 at Udinese in Serie A.

But the former Brazil international will resist the temptation to rotate his squad in the cup, instead calling for consistency and challenging the players to rise to the occasion of the knock-out tie.

“Napoli have put in some great performances in the last few matches,” Leonardo said.

“We played a great match against Napoli in the home game. I think we’ll be finding a team similar to that one.”

“As far as I’ve been told, San Paolo has a great and extraordinary atmosphere. There are a lot of supporters and therefore there is a lot of attention put on the match.”

“Of course we should be consistent. This is essential if you want to win the final match. Regardless of the competition, we’re talking about a quarter-final match which may qualify us for the semi-final and we are playing against Napoli.”

“I think that the motivation is crystal clear and there is no need to make differences between the different kind of competitions. If it’s championship (Serie A), Champions League or Coppa Italia. It is just a match and Inter Milan will be playing an away match, therefore I think that incentives are no different.”

Napoli lost 3-1 away to Inter in their league meeting on January 6, but coach Walter Mazzari will put his faith in the same group of players to achieve the right result at the second time of asking.

“This is a proud team, just like the coach,” Mazzari said.

“Most likely we’ll start with the same players who played in San Siro.”

“As we’ve done up to now, we’ll be focusing on one match at a time, therefore the next match is always the most important.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to always win. If we manage to play at one hundred percent, we should try to achieve 110 percent – this is how it should be.”

Wed 26 January, 2011

Leonardo: Inter need no extra motivation

Inter Milan coach Leonardo is counting on the intimidating atmosphere of the Stadio San Paolo to fire up his players for the trip to Napoli.

Coppa Italia holders Inter are away to Napoli – second in the Serie A table – in a quarter-final on Wednesday, with a place in the last four at stake.

Inter suffered their first defeat under Leonardo on Sunday, going down 3-1 at Udinese in Serie A.

But the former Brazil international will resist the temptation to rotate his squad in the cup, instead calling for consistency and challenging the players to rise to the occasion of the knock-out tie.

“Napoli have put in some great performances in the last few matches,” Leonardo said.

“We played a great match against Napoli in the home game. I think we’ll be finding a team similar to that one.”

“As far as I’ve been told, San Paolo has a great and extraordinary atmosphere. There are a lot of supporters and therefore there is a lot of attention put on the match.”

“Of course we should be consistent. This is essential if you want to win the final match. Regardless of the competition, we’re talking about a quarter-final match which may qualify us for the semi-final and we are playing against Napoli.”

“I think that the motivation is crystal clear and there is no need to make differences between the different kind of competitions. If it’s championship (Serie A), Champions League or Coppa Italia. It is just a match and Inter Milan will be playing an away match, therefore I think that incentives are no different.”

Napoli lost 3-1 away to Inter in their league meeting on January 6, but coach Walter Mazzari will put his faith in the same group of players to achieve the right result at the second time of asking.

“This is a proud team, just like the coach,” Mazzari said.

“Most likely we’ll start with the same players who played in San Siro.”

“As we’ve done up to now, we’ll be focusing on one match at a time, therefore the next match is always the most important.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to always win. If we manage to play at one hundred percent, we should try to achieve 110 percent – this is how it should be.”

Wed 26 January, 2011