APPIANO GENTILE – The Nerazzurri trained for the first time this week ahead of the derby against AC Milan in Serie A 2013/14 Week 36 on Sunday 4 May at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

The squad began with a warm-up before working on ball possession. The Nerazzurri then played a game on a half-sized pitch and finished the session with fitness work.

Two training sessions are scheduled for tomorrow.

APPIANO GENTILE – Inter’s first training session of the day ended a short time ago as the Nerazzurri prepare for Sunday night’s match against AC Milan in Week 36 of Serie A 2013/14.

The group followed a warm-up with uphill sprints and 3 v 3 and 1 v 1 drills.

The lads will be back out for another session this afternoon.

MILAN – Two Inter youngsters have been picked by Italy U16 coach Bruno Tedino for the forthcoming UEFA International
Development Tournament to be played in Vila Real,
Portugal, from 6 April to 10 May.

Midfielder Melkamu Taufer and forward Reno Mauro Piscopo will join up with their national team-mates on Sunday 4 May before setting off for Portugal the following day.

The UEFA International Development Tournament will see the young Italians face off against France (7 May, 17:00 local time), Portugal
(8 May, 17:00 local time) and Turkey (10 May, 11:00 local time).

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."

APPIANO GENTILE – Andrea Ranocchia spoke to Sky Sport 24’s Matteo Barzaghi about the derby and his current form in an interview on channel 200.

“I expect to win the game, just like in any derby match you expect to win and that’s it. The best memories I have when talking about games we’ve played against AC Milan are obviously the ones we won, and there are a lot of those, while the worst remains the first derby we lost when I joined. That’s the worst memory I have, the league title was on the line and we lost. The Milan derby is history, passion, it’s always great to play in because of the atmosphere that builds in the week leading up to it. It means so much to the fans, they support you and drive you on.

“We need to be wary of Mario Balotelli. He’s a great player and has so much natural and technical ability. He’s scored a lot of goals this season. I’ve played with him in the national team and he’s always behaved impeccably,” explained the Nerazzurri defender who preferred not to judge Seedorf as a coach: “I’ve not met him personally. He had a lot of experience as a player, but he’s just started his coaching career.”

“Are you sure?” was Ranocchia’s response to a question on whether he thinks Sunday’s derby might be Javier Zanetti’s last as a player. “How do I see him as a manager? He’s intelligent, he’s a man with great values and if he decides to do that, he’ll do it well.”

The Italy stopper then touched on Diego Milito: “It’s important to have him alongside us all week because he shows how a professional always needs to train. He did it on Saturday after the match. He’s an awkward striker for the opposition. Is he still a star? Absolutely.

“Mauro Icardi is progressing, he came from Sampdoria to Inter which brings with it a whole different level of pressure. He needs to work hard on a daily basis to keep on improving.”

Andrea then spoke about his own form: “It’s been really good of late both physically and psychologically, one of the best periods I’ve had since I joined the club. I’ve found consistency and want to keep going like this till the end of the season.”

What about his future? “Nothing’s happening at the moment, we’ve decided to meet at the end of the season to see how we can move forward together.”

Finally, a word on the World Cup: “I hope to go to Brazil, I’ve found consistency and I want to keep putting in even better performances between now and the end of the season. It’s up to the head coach, but I’m trying to give him a selection headache. Could a goal help me go to Brazil? Two even… maybe one this Sunday. How important would it be for me personally to go to Brazil? I had a big chance of a going in 2010 but then I broke my knee, and it would be a case of reclaiming what that injury took away from me.”