Marotta: "Ambitious as ever: the appeal of the Champions League is unmatched"

“When you talk about the Champions League, there is always a sense of excitement and prestige, even though for me this will be the 13th or 14th consecutive year. For Inter, it will be a ninth successive appearance, and no Italian team has featured in the competition more regularly in recent years. There will be a special reunion with Mourinho and we'll be returning to the Bernabéu. These are the kind of emotions that go hand in hand with this competition, the most important on the world stage. I'm sure we'll have an excellent League Phase, although with this format there is a great deal of uncertainty right up until the final matchday as to whether you've made it through. The English players? Our decisions were based on an assessment by the technical department, but the most important thing is the number of trophies these players have won during their careers: we're talking about 27 or 28. That brings significant value to the dressing room, particularly in a competition like the Champions League, where experience is crucial. This isn't the right setting to talk about politics. The FIGC's position has the backing of the various federal bodies and is shared by everyone. I hope that football, which has such a remarkable ability to bring people together, as the World Cup in North America showed, can increasingly become a force for unity rather than a source of conflict. Disputes arise because our world encompasses so many different countries, continents and cultures, but we need to experience this sport with a sense of serenity. We're always ambitious; you have to be in sport. But ambition doesn't mean arrogance. Inter have been on an important journey in recent years, and we have a duty to give our all and respect the history of a great Club like ours. At the same time, we also have the right to dream. When dreams become reality, it's because they depend on people like us taking action.”