LILLE – We're playing in the Champions League tomorrow. That's a concept Claudio Ranieri underlined several times during the course of the press conference on the eve of the Nerazzurri's third European fixture of the season, which is against Lille, the reigning champions of France. As the coach emphasised, it's a chance to turn the page on the team's current difficulties in the league.
"We'll think about our league position in Italy on Wednesday. The Champions League is important. We've won in Moscow and now we face France's top-scoring team, a side with some fantastic individuals and one that knows how to play intelligently. We know we've got a tough game ahead of us but we go into it determined to win.
"I'm certainly not making a big drama of the league standings," the coach explained. "I think we'll come through it with determination, quality and desire. What the president and I have said to each other recently will obviously remain between ourselves, but the president believes in this team, he believes we'll get out of this moment and he believes in the quality of this group.
"I don't think this team is afraid," Ranieri added. "Although naturally confidence drops a little when results aren't going your way. But we're not in freefall. It's a bout of bad weather but it will pass. If you analyse the Catania game there's a whole series of circumstances, when everything goes wrong and nothing goes the way you'd like it to. A series of negative events. But with the determination and character the lads are showing in training, we'll soon pull ourselves out of this situation. And moments of difficulty like this are an important challenge for the players, for the coach, for the group as a whole. You have to forget that you were the best in the world, even though we still have the quality of the best in the world. But now we have different situations, new difficulties, and we have to face them head on."
Read more of Ranieri's comments from today's press conference soon on inter.it.
