Ruben Amorim’s side will go into that game on the back of their first league defeat of the season after Alphadjo Cisse’s double was not enough to avoid a loss that left the Rossoneri fifth. Inter reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a nervy 2-0 win at Venezia on Wednesday, while Samuel Mbangula’s hat-trick inspired Bologna to a 4-2 victory at AC Milan and Juventus stumbled again at Genoa. Champions Inter drew level with Lazio on 25 points at the top ahead of a hotly anticipated Milan derby meeting with their rivals on Saturday.
Luciano Spalletti’s inconsistent side have not won back-to-back league games since the opening two weeks of the season and were deservedly beaten at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
“We go into that game with eight wins and a draw and are aware that it is a derby,” Chivu told Sky Sport.
Rasmus Hojlund’s early opener was cancelled out by Serie A top scorer Gustavo Varela’s clever header just before the break, while there were concerns when Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka was stretchered off.
“I felt from the first minute that the team was a little bit tired and without much energy. We conceded two goals quickly; we tried to come back, and we had a great opportunity with (Francesco) Camarda. This number of games was hard for us, with so many players out.”
Inter coach Cristian Chivu admitted that an unconvincing performance was not the perfect derby preparation for his team either.
