‘Easier without Messi’, Spalletti reveals how to beat Barcelona

23 ott 2018

Inter boss Luciano Spalletti spoke to media on Tuesday, on the eve of the Nou Camp’s Champions League clash against Inter. Both teams have six points after the first two games. The Nerazzurri will be without Radja Naninggolan and Ivan Perisic, two key players but probably not as much as Messi is for Barcelona. The Argentinean is also out of action with an arm injury.

“I think Barcelona are a better side with Messi but they have plenty of options to replace him", the Italian said.

“We must believe in our qualities without letting them dominate us. Maybe it could be easier without Messi. He makes the same touches as the other Barcelona players but in less time. Maybe we’ll have half a second of time more to think about what they are about to do. We can’t afford to leave them too much space”

“We need to remain humble despite the recent good results. We need to bring on the pitch our love for this sport. We have good qualities, we’ll need to show them.”

“We don’t have many options in midfield. We can think about alternative solutions as we did in the past. We have versatile players. Asamoah can play in the middle, Skriniar can play center midfielder too. Candreva, Politano, knows how to play in the middle of the park. We are calm, I am not going to make revolutions.”