“We feel the right tension for a situation like this, it is an important match for both teams, but the rapport with Joan Laporta is one of a long-lasting friendship and very cordial. We were given a warm welcome,” assures Marotta on Amazon Prime Italia and Sky Sport Italia.
“It is natural that the result tonight is much more important for them than it is for us, so they will try a bit of everything, including winding up the opponent. It must be counter-balanced and used as further motivation for us to get a positive result.”
If Inter win here, and Bayern Munich avoid defeat to Viktoria Plzen, then they will automatically be qualified for the Round of 16 already.
Considering this was the Group of Death going in, did Marotta and Inter expect to be in this situation?
“The Champions League is a tournament where one result can change the entire group. We knew that we were in a group with two teams who had superior ranking, as we were third seeds, but we prepared very well and will fight all the way.”
Andre Onana would now seem to be the consolidated first-choice Inter goalkeeper, pushing Samir Handanovic to the bench in both Serie A and the Champions League.
“It was always going to be a gradual introduction. First of all, we want respect for our captain Handanovic, then a goalkeeper needs to be introduced gradually in a new league like Serie A. Simone Inzaghi is doing that very well.”