FLORENCE – Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio was interviewed by Sky Sport Italia before kick-off at the Stadio Franchi.

He began: "When will see Icardi on the pitch? I don’t think it’s far off now. If we hadn’t taken the lead last week with Samuel’s header he would have been the first off the bench. Today the coach wanted to stick with a team that had done well.

"Benitez’s comments? It does get a bit tiring after a while if every time Napoli win two games on the bounce he comes out with something like that… Benitez knows full well that, partly thanks to him too, we won things that season and reached certain objectives. I’m sure that he’d sign immediately to do repeat those results with Napoli. Hopefully that will be the end of it after yesterday."

The Nerazzurri sporting director was then asked if Hernanes was signed to play as an inside midfielder: “The idea is to play with a deep-lying midfielder and two quality central midfielders – that’s what the coach has in mind. A player like Hernanes can do that job for you; he brings a level of unpredictability to the side.

"Our forwards are playing well: Milito is improving and Palacio is better. But we also have Alvarez, Kovacic, Taider: there’s plenty of choice and quality in that area."