Nicolò Barella spoke at a press conference with the Italian national team earlier today and he addressed the fact that there are no AC Milan players in the squad.
The next game on the horizon for both Milan and Inter is the Derby della Madonnina immediately after the international break on Saturday 16 September, with both sides looking to continue their 100% start to the season.
While the France camp is full of pre-derby narratives such as Olivier Giroud vs. Marcus Thuram and Theo Hernandez vs. Benjamin Pavard, the same cannot be said for the Azzurri.
Barella is one of five Inter players to have been called up by Luciano Spalletti with the others being Alessandro Bastoni, Matteo Darmian, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Davide Frattesi.
The midfielder spoke at a press conference this afternoon and he was asked about the lack of Rossoneri presence, with his response relayed by MilanNews.
“Is it strange to not have a Milan player here? No, the choices are made by the coach and I won’t go into that. Better to take another week of peace and then meet directly on the pitch without lighting any fires,” he said.
Barella also spoke about the level of Italian football, which is growing as demonstrated by the three finals played by Serie A teams last year in the three top European competitions.
“In European competitions you have to be good and have long squads, as well as being lucky. But you have to look for luck because there are no easy games. Great merit for those who reached the final, then in football as in life you win and lose.
“As far as Italian football is concerned, I say that Saudi Arabia has changed the cards on the table and everyone in their career makes the decisions they want. Then at the end of his career he will look back and evaluate whether or not he did well.”
