Simone Inzaghi confirms Kristjan Asllani will start for Inter Milan against Juventus

Simone Inzaghi has confirmed he wants Kristjan Asllani to start tomorrow’s Serie A showdown between Inter Milan and Juventus.

The Nerazzurri coach spoke in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game, as reported by FCInterNews. He also predicted a hard-fought race for the Serie A title between 4 and 5 teams.

Tomorrow evening, Inter and Juventus will face each other for the first time this season.

The Derby d’Italia is always a showcase event for Italian football. And as is often the case, the game feels like a potential title decider.

But both the Nerazzurri and Bianconeri will have to prepare for this game without a number of key players.

For Inter, there is perhaps no more serious absence than that of Hakan Calhanoglu.

The 30-year-old has become almost irreplaceable in the Nerazzurri’s defensive midfield role.

However, Calhanoglu is out with a hamstring strain.

Nicolo Barella has represented Calhanoglu in Inter’s recent games. However, the defensive midfield position is not really the Italian international’s best position.

Calhanoglu’s most natural replacement in the squad should be back after missing Inter’s last two games through injury.

Like Calhanoglu, Kristjan Asllani is also naturally suited to playing at the base of the midfield trio.

Inzaghi confirms that Inzaghi will be in the starting eleven for Inter against Juventus

Inter coach Inzaghi said: “We know what Calha means to us.”

He called the Turkish international “a world-class player.”

“But he won’t be available tomorrow. So we’ll see.”

“If Asllani can give me guarantees about his fitness, he will start,” confirmed the Inter coach. “Because he is the replacement for Calhanoglu.”

Inzaghi said Inzaghi is “growing and improving massively.”

“The only thing that is unfortunate for him is that he has Calhanoglu in front of him,” said the Nerazzurri coach.

“He did well in training. Unfortunately he suffered a blow and was unavailable for the last few games.”

“But he did well in yesterday’s training. And then we also have Barella and Zielinski.”

Meanwhile, the Inter coach also confirmed that another player is back in full training.

“Tajon Buichanan had his first meeting with the rest of the group yesterday,” Inzaghi said. “We have been waiting for us and he can satisfy us because he is a great player.”

“He really started to adapt at his best. And then he had this injury.”

“With Carlos Augusto’s injury we have a bit of an injury crisis,” Inzaghi admitted.

“But we saw how Bisseck played. And then we have Darmian who can play there, so we have to make do a little bit.”

Inzaghi predicts a tight title race with 4-5 teams

On ambitions for this season, Inzaghi said: “After winning a Scudetto and reaching a Champions League final, with all these trophies we have won, I want to improve.”

“Football is evolving,” said the Inter coach. “And teams become better organized.”

“We have to keep getting better. We know that all games are difficult.”

“Look at our last game,” Inzaghi said. Inter earned a late 1-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“We have faced a team this season that has struggled so far, but they have caused us a lot of problems.”

“We have to improve day by day. We know there will be difficulties along the way, as was the case in the derby.”

“But we analyzed them” Inzaghi insisted. “We know where we need to improve.”

The Inter coach then said that Juventus had “changed principles” since Thiago Motta replaced Max Allegri as coach.

“Allegri had his. And Motta has his.”

“I have a lot of respect for both of them,” said Inzaghi.

“We played a lot of difficult games against Mottas Bologna,” he noted.

Inzaghi remarked: “Juve have taken a lot of points so far. They will definitely be competitive.”

And as for the Serie A title race, Inzaghi said: “We have our goals.”

“We want to play as many games as possible, get as far as possible in the cup competitions and then be successful in the league.”

“For me there are 4-5 teams with the same goals as us,” emphasized Inzaghi.

“This season it is even more, considering the investments the teams made in the summer.”