March 10 (Reuters) – Inter Milan must welcome the challenge of navigating through a packed fixture list and take pride in being successful on multiple fronts, coach Simone Inzaghi said on Monday ahead of their Champions League second leg against Feyenoord.
The Serie A leaders, who won 2-0 at Feyenoord last week, host the Dutch side in the return on Tuesday before visiting third-placed Atalanta in a key league clash on Sunday.
They have also reached the Coppa Italia semi-finals in which they will take on local rivals AC Milan next month.
“The schedule should not be a problem but an incentive. We have to be proud of what we’re doing; these guys find the energy,” Inzaghi told reporters.
“In this period we had some players missing, which limited us in terms of rotation. We’ve played a lot of games. This year we had to play the last Champions League group game at the end of January, it was a longer qualifying period …
“It’s a fact but we’re proud of what we’re doing and we have to continue. It’s a lot of work, but we’re proud to do it.”
Inter’s struggles with injuries in recent weeks worsened earlier on Monday when the Italian club confirmed that Piotr Zielinski had strained a muscle in his right leg, with reports saying the midfielder could be sidelined for up to two months.
Italian media also said Inter’s leading scorer Lautaro Martinez and defender Stefan de Vrij could be rested against Feyenoord in preparation for the clash with Atalanta.
“I will rotate according to the physical state of the players. We have some fatigue to evaluate, Lautaro and De Vrij have not been out training with us today but I have a good feeling (about them),” Inzaghi said.
“I’ll evaluate whether to use them or not. The usual unavailable players have been joined by Zielinski who had a major injury at a time we didn’t want. He was growing a lot, he was helping us. We’ll wait for him like others.”
Inter will, however, be able to call on first-choice goalkeeper Yann Sommer again, with Inzaghi confirming the ex-Switzerland international had recovered from a thumb fracture and would start against Feyenoord.
“He is a goalkeeper who has been here with us for a year and a half; in that time he has done great things,” Inzaghi said. (Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
