< 
MILAN – Inter’s Giovanissimi Nazionali team are due to play Como at 21:45 tonight in the 25th edition of the Gaetano Scirea Memorial tournament. The Nerazzurri Under-15s will continue in their bid to retain the title they won last year when they take on the other Group E side Novara on Sunday 31 August (21:45). The final will be played on Sunday 7 September.
]]>
< 
MONTE CARLO – The Nerazzurri enjoyed a great night at the San Siro as they qualified for the Europa League group stage with a dominant display that included super skills, great goals and fantastic fans. It’s a game that must be shelved immediately, however, as Serie A is just around the corner and before then we have our Europa League future to discover.
Today at 13:00 CET, the draw for the 2014/15 group stage will be made in Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. The 48 teams have been divided into four pots according to their UEFA coefficients: one will be selected from each to make up the 12 groups.
Here’s who Inter could be pitted against:
Pot 1
Sevilla FC (ESP, holders)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
SSC Napoli (ITA)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Villarreal CF (ESP)
ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
FC Salzburg (AUT)
FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
LOSC Lille (FRA)
FC København (DEN)
Pot 2
FC Steaua Bucure?ti (ROU)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
PAOK FC (GRE)
Celtic FC (SCO)
Be?ikta? JK (TUR)
VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
Club Brugge KV (BEL)
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR)
Trabzonspor A? (TUR)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
AC Sparta Praha (CZE)
VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)
Pot 3
Everton FC (ENG)
BSC Young Boys (SUI)
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
FC Zürich (SUI)
Estoril Praia (POR)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
FK Partizan (SRB)
Torino FC (ITA)
Feyenoord (NED)
AS Saint-Étienne (FRA)
EA Guingamp (FRA)
Rio Ave FC (POR)
Pot 4
FC Dinamo Moskva (RUS)
FC Krasnodar (RUS)
HNK Rijeka (CRO)
KSC Lokeren OV (BEL)
Asteras Tripolis FC (GRE)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Apollon Limassol FC (CYP)
Qaraba? FK (AZE)
HJK Helsinki (FIN)
FC Astra Giurgiu (ROU)
FC Dinamo Minsk (BLR)
Aalborg BK (DEN)
The full group-stage fixture list will be available 60 minutes after the draw ceremony. The matches will be held on 18 September, 2 and 23 October, 6 and 27 November and 11 December.
]]>
< 
]]>
< 
]]>
< 
MILAN – It was the night when 45,660 Nerazzurri fans chose to go to the Meazza on a warm late August evening to watch Inter. They weren’t disappointed. It was the night when Walter Mazzarri asked his team to make sure they got their approach spot on, despite carrying a 3-0 first-leg advantage into the game. He got that, and then some. It was the night when Mateo Kovacic scored his first goal for Inter. And his second and his third. It was also the night when Osvaldo opened his own Nerazzurri account and Icardi added another two to his early season tally, coming off the bench to pick up from where he left off in Iceland.
The result was a 6-0 scoreline that the coach could hardly not be pleased with. After the game, he admitted: “Yes, we did everything right today. We got off to the best start possible when they tried to make it hard for us. Then after the first 20 minutes it was downhill for us.
“I’m delighted for Kovacic, he finally got that goal. We’ve done a lot of work with him. Just look at where he was for the first goal. If he can get into those positions then with his ability he can be decisive.”
Asked about transfers, the Nerazzurri manager replied: “I’ve been working very well with this team since the start of July. It’s a solid group that’s growing all the time. As for the transfer market, that’s something you’ll need to ask the management.
“Ideally you want a squad of 22 players. With all the games we have in Serie A, Europa League and Coppa Italia – competitions we want to do well in – we could be playing twice a week with 11 different players. The better they are, the better for us.”
On the future, Mazzarri said: “Tomorrow we’ll do a recovery session then we have Torino. I’m glad they’re back in Europe as well. It’s good for Italy’s UEFA ranking too.”
Back on tonight’s contest and how his men performed: “The lads deserve to congratulated after that. As I said, I’m so happy for Kovacic. Icardi did well when he came on too, while Hernanes was excellent and the defenders put in a good shift.
“We’re defending well. We’ve only had one bad 45 minutes this summer, in Frankfurt. We conceded some bad goals up there, but it was down to the heavy workload.”
Finally, on the subject of workload: “I did things differently in pre-season this year because I didn’t have all the players at our summer training camp. But Pondrelli and I sat down and planned out personalised programmes for the players.”
]]>