Giovanni van Bronckhorst has warned that Feyenoord’s home win over Como counts for little ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Inter in Rotterdam.
With quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, citing FCInter1908, the Feyenoord coach spoke at his pre-match press conference before the game at De Kuip. It kicks off at 21:00 CET [20:00 GMT] and will be refereed by Sweden’s Glenn Nyberg.
“Getting a result against an Italian team doesn’t mathematically mean we’ll win again,” Van Bronckhorst said. “Of course, we watched the Como game too, but tomorrow the opponent will be different. Como are in the Champions League for the first time, Inter have a different status. Every team has its vulnerabilities, though.”
Van Bronckhorst’s Feyenoord wary of wounded Inter
Inter arrive in the Netherlands after their first league defeat of the season, a 3-1 loss to Milan in Saturday’s derby, which leaves them three points behind leaders Lazio. Cristian Chivu is also short of players, with Lautaro Martínez, Benjamin Pavard, John Stones, Curtis Jones and Luis Henrique all out injured.
Van Bronckhorst played as a left-back for Barcelona and Arsenal. He confirmed that Shaqueel van Persie and Reiss Nelson have trained and will be available.
“I’ve watched several Inter games, including the last one against Milan,” Van Bronckhorst said. “Playing against them is difficult, they play football similar to ours. They have a lot of injuries, but also a lot of quality and experience.
“Inter aren’t afraid to sit in a low block and then press high, they bring a lot of players forward, and they’re a complete team. They’re missing some players, and we’ll have our chances to win the game, as has always been the case.
“Tomorrow’s Inter will be different from the one we saw against Barcelona, but they know what to do in the Champions League to go through and be successful. Tomorrow we need to play our cards well and try to get a great result. We’ve struggled away from home, while we’ve already won at home against Como. Let’s hope we can do it again.”
Feyenoord are without a win in three games, and van Bronckhorst wants his side to repeat what worked against Como. “The group has energy. It knows it’s come from three games without a win and wants to show tomorrow that it wants to turn the page,” he said. “We don’t need to run more, but to be compact at certain moments of the game. We managed that against Como, and we need to do it again so we don’t leave Inter dangerous spaces.”
He also played down the derby result. “I didn’t look at the result, but at the way they played. They’re a top team, and not just this year. They have players who know what to do in the Champions League. I have to focus on their strengths, not on the result of their last game.”
