On October 14 at 3:00 AM Beijing time (CET), Inter Milan host Club Brugge in the second round of the Champions League group stage. Ahead of the match, Inter Milan head coach Cristian Chivu attended a press conference. This article covers the second part of the press conference.

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Good day, Coach. Compared to almost all other Serie A teams, Inter has consistently maintained a very high competitive standard and has never dropped below a certain high performance level. That is to say, in every dimension the team demonstrates extremely stable and sustainably high performance. However, you constantly emphasize that this team still has enormous room for improvement, which of course is very reasonable. So I'd like to ask: in your opinion, is there one specific area where the team most urgently needs further improvement and development?

We have learned deeply and understand clearly that we must value and appreciate all the results we have achieved through hard work and dedication. Precisely for this reason, nothing is guaranteed, and we will never underestimate an opponent. We possess mature tactical thinking – I believe we have established a mentality that drives us to play with strong sense of responsibility, with the right attitude – although there is still room for improvement in our mindset – with great determination, with the strong desire to control the game and dominate the entire pitch, to enjoy football and possess the precise sense of responsibility necessary to lead the game to a successful victory.

The reason we say there is room for improvement is that, based on our philosophy, our tactical vision, and our ambitions, there are many things we absolutely can and must do better. Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a group of players with extremely high individual quality and absolute top-level ability. Within the team, the extremely healthy competition for positions significantly raises the intensity and quality of our daily training and also elevates the strategic level of our entire endeavor, which is exactly what we have always dreamed of.

Once again, a big club with big ambitions must possess this mentality and assemble a deep squad like ours. One could even say that in my view, even in squad composition there is always room for further optimization – this is by no means criticism of the club, but rather an essential requirement for the pursuit of excellence.

Cristian, good day. Last season, despite an away victory against strong opponents like Dortmund, we unfortunately missed direct qualification for the top eight by just 1 point. Now the upcoming matches are upon us, including home games against Club Brugge and Shakhtar Donetsk, followed by an away match against Feyenoord and finally a home game against Stuttgart. On paper, Inter should comfortably collect around 10 points from these four matches. Is it clear to the team that these four matches cannot tolerate any complacency or carelessness?

We stick to the principle of "fighting game by game and focusing only on the current match." When we look at the bigger picture or the macro perspective of this short seven-match competition, we must make up what we're missing, but at the moment we're focusing entirely on the first match. With a demanding schedule of one match every three days, we simply cannot afford to be overly ambitious. Therefore, the most important match today is tomorrow's match.

Moreover, we will face an ambitious opponent tomorrow – Club Brugge are extremely dominant and aggressive both offensively and defensively. Whether in possession or in defensive phases without the ball, they display an extremely proactive tactical approach: they will press high to meet us, and they will involve many players in their attack when they have possession. Therefore, this will definitely not be an easy match. However, we are extremely well prepared for all of this, because in the Champions League no match can be won easily.

Übersetzt von KI.

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