Pioli: "Coppa Italia a key objective for us"

APPIANO GENTILE – With Tuesday’s Coppa Italia quarter-final tie with Lazio drawing ever closer, Stefano Pioli has insisted that the cup is one of the club’s primary objectives this season.

"The Coppa Italia is a trophy that all the good teams want to win – and we’re one of them," said the Nerazzurri boss, speaking to Inter Channel on Monday. "It’s a knockout game so the result is very important and the cup is a key objective for both sides.

"Lazio are a good team and they’re having a great season. As always, we’ll need to play to the best of our ability and give everything we have to get the win."

Just over a month has passed since Inter beat Lazio 3-0 in Serie A, but Pioli believes his side have got even better since then.

"We’ve really come on in the last month," said the boss. "Winning breeds confidence so we want to continue doing so. It’s nice to work in a positive environment but it will all come down to our results. Tomorrow’s match is important because if we win we’ll be in the Coppa Italia semi-finals. Our opponents are a quality side and they showed that in the league game – we won but it was tough going in the first half. We’ll need to be on our game both tactically and technically."

Returning to Serie A, Pioli urged his players to maintain their focus on winning as many games as possible.

"If we keep winning then sooner or later someone will slip up, but we need to concentrate on ourselves and on what we can control," said the Inter coach. "We haven’t achieved anything yet, but we need to stay calm, focused and determined. We want to keep this run going for as long as possible so that come 28 May we have something to hang our hat on."

Pioli also had a message of the fans, over 30,000 of whom will be at San Siro to cheer on the side against Lazio.

"It’s great to hear," he said. "We need the fans and the enthusiasm they bring. We’re stronger together and the more of us there are, the better it is."

Last but not least, Pioli stressed that while there is always room for improvement, he feels blessed to have such an eager bunch of players at his disposal.

"In my eyes you can always get better," said the coach. "Things change quickly in football and as a coach you have to figure out which players are best suited to a particular game. I’m lucky enough to have a very willing group to work with – they’re in good shape physically but on top of that they have the right attitude to their work. I have lots of players to choose from and I know that whoever gets picked will step up. That’s a massive bonus for me."