Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini is wary of the threat posed by their Europa League opponents Celtic ahead of tonight’s clash at Celtic Park.
After strengthening their squad in the winter transfer window following the arrivals of Davide Santon, Marcelo Brozovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Lukas Podolski, the Italian giants are enjoying a good run of form having won their last two Serie A outings, plundering seven goals in the process.
On the other hand, Celtic are going through a purple patch of their own having won their last six league fixtures and conceding just once along the way.
Mancini believes that Ronny Deila’s side play good attacking football and do not rely on hoofing the ball up field to create goalscoring chances, therefore it becomes a difficult proposition to counter them.
“Celtic are a good team. They play football very well, not the classic long ball”, Mancini said at a pre-match press conference, via his club's site.
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“They try to play on the pitch and I think it will be a difficult match because they also have good technical players.”
The Italian acknowledged that the Hoops are also a physical team which adds another facet to their possession-based approach.
“Celtic are maybe a physical team, but they are also a team that plays football.”
A win for Inter tonight at Celtic Park would see them take a strong foothold in the tie ahead of the return leg at San Siro next week. The Nerazzurri are keen to go the distance in the Europa League with the carrot of Champions League qualification a big motivating factor.
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