- At the beginning of the season, could you believe that everything for Inter will be so easy?
- When you see such great players on a team every day, you realize that together we can achieve a lot. Then, however, as often happens in football, completely different events can occur on the field. Therefore, our task is to realize this potential in practice. Sometimes it turns out that everything can be achieved quite easily. But this is obtained for the really strongest teams. And infrequently.
- What answer to the skeptics who reduce everything to the current “lame” championship?
- He doesn’t seem so lame to me. And then, is it really Inter's fault that there is no Juve, and Milan has been fined?
- There is an opinion that Vieira, a former Juventus player, should not feel bad when receiving this year's scudetto.
- Last year I earned a scudetto on the football field. But it turned out that not everything depends on us, the players. It is too early to talk about victory this year. But I really hope for her. After all, with Inter I became even stronger.
- And what exactly did you bring to it from Juventus? What has been added to Inter compared to last season?
- Everyone who came to the team (not just me) brought with them hunger. And now our team is made up of people who are more evil, hungry for victories. We are full of desire to win everything.
- Italian Championship plus Champions League?
- We have a team that can do this. If no one is distracted and we maintain a high level of concentration on all tasks, we will definitely win both trophies. It will be hard, but it is possible.
- Does Inter look like your last year's Juventus?
- By determination - yes. And by the ability to never get tired, and just a minute after the next win, say: “OK, we beat this team. But now let's think about the next opponent. ” It is very important to have a lot of players who know well how to strengthen the game, even if you enter the field not from the first minute. This is the strength of the team, which immediately struck me in Juve. And now I regained it here at Inter. But Inter reminds me of my first team - Arsenal. I well remember how, then, we suddenly began to realize that a team is becoming a team that can beat any opponent, but has not yet matured, is progressing and is learning invincibility every day.
- But what is the difference between this Inter and that Juventus?
- It seems to me that the climate in the team is more family-friendly, in a good sense, relaxing. In Juventus everyone was under pressure, without exception, the situation was more severe, you were under constant control.
- From the “Inter” side with its cannibalism on the field it doesn’t seem so relaxed ...
- This is not said for the sake of a red word. I’ll try to explain two more secrets of Inter. The first. We all have the same thing in our heads. Speaking differently, everyone thinks first about the interests of the team, and then about their own. The second one. We realized that gathering in such quantity and quality in one team is a great success, which rarely happens in a career. And therefore, none of us has the right to be mistaken for any reason. Laziness, idleness, jealousy, quarrels - everything is excluded. Because our moment has come. Everything is here and now.
- You mentioned a quarrel. I recall your skirmish with Mikhailovich right after the derby.
- A banal lack of understanding. I was wrong then and apologized. We all have honest relations, and this is a must in any large team. This is not easy to achieve, given that in such groups people with strong characters are gathered. Just look at our workouts. They are worth it.
- What do you have in mind?
- Never before have I quarreled with partners in training so often as at Inter. Our strength lies in our strength. Each of us at each training session wants to show how passionately he wants to enter the field in the next match.
- This year you are constantly changing positions. Are you not a pure midfielder in the Inter scheme?
- For many years I used to be in the middle of the field. Therefore, my move closer to the right flank means to play not where I prefer. On the right, I get the ball less often and don’t feel in the heart of the game. Nevertheless, I am not annoyed. After all, having changed my position, I get the opportunity to spend more time on the field. In a team like Inter, not everyone can afford to play in an ideal position for themselves.
- In your opinion, what did Ibrahimovic add today?
- Last year, he was a little absent-minded in the sense of game thinking, and this was reflected in his actions. Ibra has everything: technology, strength, speed. He needed only to concentrate more on the essential, and please, we got a completely different person. Ibra is still young, and no one knows how strong he is. I think that in two or three years he will be not just a strong forward, but one of the best in the world.
- What impresses you the most in Mancini?
- Calm. And the ability to infect a team with it.
“Henry is your close friend.” Perhaps you have already spoken or are going to talk about his possible future at Inter?
- We often discuss different topics. But they never talked about his future. I can say that at Arsenal Henri has everything that any big player can wish for: respect, satisfaction and a major contract. At first glance, it will be difficult for him to leave Arsenal. But everything happens in life.
- Yes, no one could have imagined that events like the killing of a police officer in Catania could happen in football.
- This problem has not Italian roots, as many people think. All over the world, universal values are devalued, laws are not respected.
- Do you think the English model of safety in stadiums should work in Italy?
The British also had very serious problems, but they were successfully overcome. Today in English stadiums you can see many children, women, people with happy faces.
- And in Italy, stadiums are closed to the public. Was it inevitable?
- This measure leaves me with a very strange feeling. Such a decision could be the only possible one as an emergency, in those circumstances. But this cannot go on forever. Without spectators at the stadium, football will not be football. It is necessary to adopt sound rules and to begin to respect them all. The situation will not change immediately. It will take time to instill the tolerance and voluntary desire of all football fans to radically change the situation for the better.
Translation by George BYCHKOV