Ranocchia: "Working hard and well. Great to have the fans there"

LUGANO – His was the last kick of the game – the winning penalty – but it was by no means Andrea Ranocchia's only contribution to the game as Inter overcame Lugano after a shootout.

The centre-back marshalled the defence and helped build play from the back before stepping up to convert the Nerazzurri's fifth and final spot kick.

Speaking to Inter TV after the Lugano Region Cup encounter, Andrea reflected on how pre-season is going so far, as well as the match itself.

"We’re obviously a bit leggy because of the training loads but we’re working hard and well," he began. "We’re trying to take the coach’s ideas on board while waiting for all the other players to get back so that we can focus on the start of the season.

“Lugano begin their league season next week so they're clearly ahead of us in terms of fitness at the moment. We dug in when we needed to and managed to turn the game around then win on penalties.

“These friendlies are important for us to implement new ideas and improve our fitness. Our legs aren’t quite there yet but we'll talk with the coach about what needs to be put right.

“As for the penalty, it's not the first time I've scored one in pre-season!

“It was wonderful to have our fans there supporting us. We hope that when the season starts up again we can enjoy having our fans back.”