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NETTUNO – A visit from a baseball legend. Lenny Randle has moved to Italy after 12 years  and 1,138 games in the MLB for the Washington Senators, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners. He will bring bags and talent and experience.

Baseball is popular in Nettuno, with the local team the most successful in Italian history: Nettuno BC have won 17 league titles, four Coppa Italias, six European Cups, three CEB Cups and two CEB Supercups.

Inter Club Nettuno-Anzio met Lenny Randle and welcomed him to Italy. He received a Nerazzurri shirt and met Ranocchia, Icardi, Palacio, Osvaldo and Handanovic.

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FLORENCE – Walter Mazzarri was naturally not a happy man after Inter registered a second consecutive Serie A defeat away to Fiorentina this evening.

Speaking to the media after the match, he explained: “There’s not much to say at the moment. I’ve already spoken to the lads because lots of them will be heading off on international duty now. We just need to get our heads down and work on the problems we have. I’ve told them what I needed to say. We’re all angry about the result and the way the match went. I’m confident we’ll pick ourselves up again soon but we do need to work hard to solve our problems as quickly as possible.

“We thought certain problems could be overcome with a psychological shake-up but that proved not to be the case.

“Is it a partly a fitness issue? I knew we weren’t all that fresh. That’s another reason for us to train really well over the next fortnight even if we’ll be missing our international players.”

Is there a problem at a structural level? “No, it’s not about the formation. We changed ours mid-game today. After conceding two goals in a certain way and a third in another way I wouldn’t say it’s about tactics or a lack of ideas on the pitch. Up until the Cagliari game we’d been playing well but whatever I say today will be wrong. I don’t want to trot out excuses but the lads know. The less I say the better.”

Mazzarri concluded by discussing Palacio’s involvement: “It’s not easy to use players if they’re not fully fit. He’s coming off a long spell on the sidelines with a serious injury so it’s only natural that he should feature less. Medel is another important player and he’s not in great shape either. Like Rodrigo he’s come here after a busy World Cup. Fortunately we’ve only played six league games. We’re looking forward.”

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FLORENCE – Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio spoke to reporters after the Nerazzurri’s defeat to Fiorentina.

He said: “We drew our conclusions in the dressing room with the coach and the lads. This isn’t a pleasant situation we find ourselves in and we needed to take stock of things at a difficult time. We have our problems, some being physical. And we’ll sort them out.

“We feel a sense of responsibility, we want to knuckle down and we’ll knuckle down even harder. This is not the real Inter. We’ll dig deep and come through this together.

“Let’s hope this is the end of our losing streak. After Cagliari I thought it was a one-off but today’s match has made us reassess things. We’ve discussed it together and, as I said, we’ll come through it because we have an experienced coach. We’ll solve all our problems together.”

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