Marotta: ‘Inter courageous to appoint Chivu’ as new coach

Inter President Beppe Marotta feels the club is being repaid for the ‘courageous’ decision to appoint Cristian Chivu, as they go into the Supercoppa semi-final with Bologna.

It kicks off at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh at 19.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.

A winner must be decided after 90 minutes or penalties, so without extra time, and goes on to face Napoli in Monday’s Final.

The Nerazzurri qualified for this Final Four tournament as runners-up in the Scudetto race, so they face Coppa Italia winners Bologna.

It is one year and eight months since Inter last won any silverware.

“We are not here to be spectators, but to be protagonists. That is what the history of Inter demands,” Marotta told Sport Mediaset.

“Bologna have in my view the characteristics, tenacity, determination and positive style of football to make them a very tough opponent.”

Denzel Dumfries, Francesco Acerbi, Matteo Darmian and Raffaele Di Gennaro are still out of action, with Hakan Calhanoglu only ready for a spot on the bench after his injury against Liverpool.

Considering Dumfries will be out for at least two months following ankle surgery, are Inter aiming to sign a new right-sided wing-back for January?

“I won’t rule anything out, but the squad is currently providing what the coach and club need,” replied Marotta.

“We will discuss it with Ausilio, Baccin and the coach, then evaluate what ought to be done. The January transfer window is for repairing the squad, and we do not need repairs. It is only worth going on the market to bring in qualities that are better than you currently have.”

Davide Frattesi was widely expected to start, but instead Nicolò Barella, Piotr Zielinski and Henrikh Mkhitaryan run the midfield in Riyadh.

Chivu has had some hiccups since replacing Simone Inzaghi, but still has Inter on top of the Serie A table and in the running for a top eight finish in the Champions League.

“We are proud to have made this choice and to have the coach with us. He is a modern coach, has the qualities required to lead Inter, and the club had the courage to appoint him. We were well aware that this is a professional who can communicate well with players and media, while also instilling a strong work ethic.

“He can do very well and certainly will do well at Inter.”

Chivu lashed out a little in his press conference, noting that some critics ‘thought this squad was finished,’ but were they really so damning?

“We are Inter, so we must be able to deal with difficult moments like last June, it is part of the job. There were many critics who leapt to conclusions without waiting to evaluate developments properly.

“Inter proved we are still a competitive model, I won’t say necessarily winning, but certainly competitive, and so we leave the criticism where we found it,” concluded Marotta.