Chivu: ‘Inter having a great season, despite what people say’

Cristian Chivu insists Inter are ‘having a great season, despite what people say,’ as they prepare to face a revitalised Genoa under his old Roma teammate Daniele De Rossi. ‘The reality is different to the narrative.’

It kicks off on Sunday at 17.00 GMT at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, also known as Marassi.

Hakan Calhanoglu limped off midweek against Liverpool and “has not resumed training yet,” while Francesco Acerbi, Denzel Dumfries, Matteo Darmian, Tomas Palacios and Raffaele Di Gennaro are also out of action.

De Rossi has seen the Grifone surge up the standings since taking over from sacked Patrick Vieira and is hoping to keep that confidence going against an Inter side fresh from Champions League defeat to Liverpool.

“We need to be perfect, especially in terms of attitude against a team that found so much enthusiasm under a new coach,” said Chivu in his press conference.

“It has never been easy for Inter in this fixture, so we need to give it our all. I had four marvellous years at Roma, De Rossi was a captain without the armband, as Francesco Totti was still there at the time. I always admired his intelligence, he is a genuine guy who is very loyal.”

The defeat to Liverpool arrived in extremely controversial circumstances, with a penalty so soft that it made headlines around Europe.

How will Inter react to this feeling of profound injustice?

“With the same calm that marked my approach since the start of the season,” responded Chivu.

“We are aware that we’ve got to give our best every day, along with a little added focus, responsibility, passion and enjoyment.

“Despite what people say, in my view we are having a great season. It’s true, there are ups and downs, we’d like to remove the downs, but we are confident in our work.

“We are trying to learn from mistakes, but must not lose the confidence that we are having a great season. Excluding the Club World Cup, we have had 21 games where at most we got two halves wrong, but never a whole match.

“This squad wants to dominate and the reality on the field is different to the narrative that people want to paint about us.”

Inter have lost practically all the ‘big’ games against strong opponents, despite often creating more opportunities and having the majority of possession.

“We started the season under a magnifying glass, people said we were failures and we were finished, but we are still up there and that is not to be taken for granted considering what was said over the summer.

“Of course we have margin for improvement, but we never wanted to lose our identity, our hunger, our desire to be dominant in Serie A and Europe. We are on the right track, and that is the most important thing.

“Some might say that we ought to be more negative and defensive, going for the draw, but I don’t want us to lose our identity.”

The best performance of Chivu’s Inter was only last week, demolishing Como 4-0 at San Siro, but the coach disagrees.

“In terms of effort, we actually did more against Liverpool. Of course, with all due respect for Como, Liverpool can afford to spend €150m for one player, so it’s a very different level.

“However, in terms of overall performance, we were not inferior to Liverpool, so I will keep and build on the good things I saw there.

“We have to talk about the reality. I’ve been at Inter in one way or another for 20 years, so expectations are different to reality,” added Chivu.

“I do not evaluate the growth process based on one victory or one defeat. I don’t like labels, and too many of them are placed on Inter.”