Jonathan: “Happy to have met Mazzarri at this stage of my career”

APPIANO GENTILE – 17 games out of 19, Jonathan is still improving at Inter and spoke to Sky Sport 24: “I’ve been here for two and a half years now, I’ve got more confidence, the coach and his staff always talk to me and tell me they have faith in what I’m doing. I now understand the language better and I’m happy to have met Walter Mazzarri at this stage of my career because I’ve rediscovered my confidence. I’d also like to thank the fans for all the faith and support they’ve always shown me.”

The Nerazzurri man then spoke about the Brazilian national team and had a message for head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari: “I don’t like talking about myself. He definitely knows me, we were on the same flight after the AC Milan match, we spoke about a lot of subjects but not football. If I were selected, I’d be delighted but I know the competition is fierce.”

The Brazilian also gave his thoughts on Inter’s form: “In training we do what the coach asks us, and after the Chievo game we were unhappy because the ball just wouldn’t go in the back of the net. The coach spoke to us yesterday, he told us he’s happy with what we’re doing on the pitch, but that it’s not enough and we need to do more.”

On Sunday Jonathan comes up against Gian Piero Gasperini, his first coach at Inter: “We were here together for two months, but I saw he’s a real man with a good work ethic. I came here because he gave his OK. I don’t want to discuss what he’s said about Calciopoli, I’ll leave that to other people. Genoa are a strong side, and we mustn’t underestimate them. I don’t know why Gasperini didn’t do well here because, as I’ve said, I’d only just arrived. Of course, he had some bad results, there’s a lot of pressure here, then he tried to move to a three-man defence but the squad didn’t adapt well to it.”

Jonathan was the latest player to be asked his view on referees: “I’ve watched matches back at home and seen there were penalties that we weren’t given. Referees are human and can make mistakes like we do, but it keeps happening with Inter. All we ask is that when there’s a decision to make, they make one. They should speak to their bosses and figure out what’s going on.”

Finally a word on honorary president Massimo Moratti and president Thohir: “There are no words to describe Moratti as a man and a president. He’s always with us, he really is a wonderful man. I’ve met Thohir three times but I know he watches all the games from Indonesia. I read the interview in which he said this is a year of transition and all the fans need to have patience. We all need to see that it’s an unusual period at the club. Our aim? Obviously it would be great to get into the European places, there’s still a lot of matches to be played and it’s not just down to us. If we do manage it, we’ll be happy.”