A special thanks to official EXPO photographer Daniele Mascolo for his pics

APPIANO GENTILE – In today’s workout Inter took part in an 11-v-11 training match to prepare for their upcoming game against AC Milan, scheduled for Sunday 4 May at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (kick-off at 20:45).

The next session is set for tomorrow morning. 

MILAN – Here is the full rundown of disciplinary details going into AC Milan v Inter, the Week 36 Serie A match, scheduled for Sunday 4 May at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (kick-off at 20:45).

INTER
Suspended: No one
One booking away from suspension: Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Jesus, Ricardo Alvarez, Jonathan, Yuto Nagatomo, Saphir Taider, Rodrigo Palacio, Hernanes.

AC MILAN
Suspended: No one.
One booking away from suspension: Daniele Bonera, Christian Abbiati, Adil Rami.

LAZIO
Suspended: No one.
One booking away from suspension: Cavanda, Perea, Onazi, Cana, Candreva, Ledesma, Pereirinha.  

APPIANO GENTILE – He’s a man who knows quite a bit about derbies, having played in and decided a fair few of them in his time. He remembers them all too. Speaking exclusively to Inter Channel’s Alessandro Villa, Dejan Stankovic flicked through his personal derby photo album, then trained his lens on Sunday’s showdown at the San Siro.

What comes to mind when you think of AC Milan v Inter?
"Lots of things, wonderful memories and a few we lost too, but mostly great memories. It’s a special game, a game I think every footballer would like to be involved in, out there on the pitch. It’s an emotional ride, a real spectacle. You never know how a derby is going to go: you can have a really strong team and lose it, or vice versa. There are no rules, what matters is that it’s a great derby, an honest derby, played intensely. A game that can show the world what football is like in Milan."

You’ve scored derby goals in all sorts of different ways. Which one do you cherish the most?
"You cherish any goal you score in the derby. In my first one I scored from a corner, then in an important derby that we won 2-1, then a 4-3, a 4-0, a game we totally dominated. They were lovely goals: some of them beautiful to see, others important. If I had to choose one, perhaps I’d say my goal in that 4-3 win. Lovely, one touch to control and then I just let fly. That was also with Milan at home. In two away derbies we put eight goals past the Rossoneri. Not bad."

More to follow

MILAN – Erick Thohir opened today’s shareholders’ meeting by offering – together with everyone else present – a long applause to honorary president Massimo Moratti. He then outlined the latest developments regarding the restructuring of the club to the shareholders, and also discussed transfers. Indeed, he was very clear in associating these two topics, both during the meeting and when speaking to the press afterwards.

On the new company set up and the club’s strategies.
"The new company is similar to many companies that focus on sport and media: we’re creating a media company that will focus on increasing revenue from the media and sponsorships. We’ve recruited a new person [Luca Innocenti] for ticketing. If you look at the top 15 clubs in terms of revenue, the average is 260 million a year. For Inter to get to that level, one of the important things is ticketing. That’s why we’ve recruited this person, because he will create a business plan for us.

"The most important thing for us is to build a team on the pitch but you also need to have a strong management. That’s why I said yesterday that we won’t stop recruiting because there are positions still available, for example a marketing director and an international sponsorships director. The deal we signed with Infront yesterday is for Europe, but not the rest of the world. It’s important to have more people to help in China, United States, Japan, South-East Asia, and Australia.

"The same goes for marketing because when you look at Inter as a brand, it’s important to create a marketing team who can develop strategies for the club, to reach beyond Europe and go global. If the club is to reach 200 million, the media will play an important role for the company. Because the media, the websites and social media are areas where we can add more revenue, but it takes a while to develop."

On Javier Zanetti
"The captain will be part of the club. As I keep saying, we want to focus on the last three games we have. I met Zanetti yesterday and we spoke about the fact that the team needs to focus on getting as many points as we can, but at the same time we had discussions about him studying English and management. I think it’s important that when he’s part of the club he understands not only the sport but also the management side. The most important thing is that he’s still a player at the moment and he can help us perform consistently over the next three games."

On the summer transfer window
"We’ve agreed with the management, the coach and the sporting director to review the team after these last three games. It’s not not fair when you say a player is out of contract so he has to go, but you want to continue the contract based on performances. The same goes for the players whose contracts are running out at the moment. We want to review their performances because the most important thing for next season is that we balance the team, and the team needs to perform to meet the expectations and the targets that we want.

"If you remember, in January the reason we added Hernanes in midfield is that we felt he could bring more movement to our play, through the middle and not only on the wings. And we added D’Ambrosio because we wanted to balance in the wide areas. This summer we’ll look for another winger to help, and also a defender and an attacker. As you know, we only have Palacio and Icardi, Milito’s contract is finishing. We still want to talk to him, but again we need to review things because we might need an attacker and also a defender.

"It’s good to have big names but there are no guarantees in negotiations. That’s why I tell the media that we’ll only announce the players that we’ve signed, because otherwise it’s only rumours. As I said, the most important thing for next season is to build a balanced team. When you have big names but no one on the bench it’s not good. If we do well in the next three games, we’ll play in three competitions next year, so we need to add depth to the team.

"At the same time, it’s very important that more than 11 players stay in the team over the next three years. According to the calculations we’ve made with the management, we hope we can keep more than 10 players in the next two to three years because with this consistency we can create a balanced team, and communication, teamwork and focus can be achieved."

DC United and Del Piero
"DC United’s interest in Del Piero? I don’t have any information about that. Of course I haven’t checked it because for sure if they were going to recruit a player I would know. I believe DC United already have a good team, although they might want to look at the opportunity of adding players or changing some of them in the next couple of months. The MLS season is different to Serie A. In Major League Soccer you have a salary cap of three million, so it’s a different kind of league. I don’t have any information but I believe that if they had someone joining the team, then as an owner I would know."