Spalletti: "Inter vs Napoli is very important"

APPIANO GENTILE - Ahead of tomorrow's league match, Luciano Spalletti spoke at the pre-match press conference discussing Inter vs. Napoli.

"Starting again after what has happened? They are events that remain with you. We are closer to one another, we are more in contact with one another and we hold each other in more affection than you could see from outside. The fundamental thing is that he was not just the captain of Fiorentina but of football in general. Astori leaves us with an important example of how integrity makes it a very thin line between being an opponent and being a team mate. When you met him, everyone said hello. It's something that leaves a mark."

"We will have to be nearly perfect because Sarri's team and his idea of football could provide ideas about the principles on which we should model our style of football. There are examples that already make up part of our style of play and one of those is Napoli."

"The desire to live up to the past history of this club is absolutely total. We are always slightly affected by other results because the table is very tight. For us, Inter vs. Napoli is a crucial match for our season. It is even more important because we have not managed to win in recent games. We need to win football matches, we cannot just try to manage them."

"Borja Valero has had some problems recently; we'll have to evaluate how many minutes he can play. Rafinha is constantly growing; he always trains better day by day and he always succeeds in developing his technical qualities and speed. We're happy. He himself sees that he's improving. He's managing to play his football for a longer period every time and this encourages us to hope that we'll soon have him totally available."

"In my opinion, Napoli are very strong. They have pace, possession, technique and goals. They have three players who can sense a goal. But I've also prepared well and we also have good stats."