Christian Eriksen makes his Inter debut in Coppa Italao

conte eriksen inter milan
  • Antonio Conte insists Inter fully deserved to knock Fiorentina out of the Coppa Italia, even though he was “forced” to debut Christian Eriksen and change the system.

This is the first time the Nerazzurri have reached the Coppa Italia semi-finals since 2015-16 and they will face Napoli over two legs in February and March.

Antonio Candreva and Martin Caceres had scored, before Nicolò Barella’s well-placed volley into the bottom corner.christian-eriksen-inter-milan

The evening also marked the debut of Eriksen after his €20m transfer from Tottenham Hotspur, and the adoption of a new 3-4-1-2 formation.

The playmaker, who replaced Alexis Sanchez from the bench, though he had capped his debut with an assist when he fed Lautaro Martinez, only for the offside flag to rule out Inter’s third goal.

However, Conte revealed he did not plan on utilizing his latest signing so soon after Eriksen’s arrival at San Siro.christian-eriksen-inter-milan-debut

“We did not intend to use Eriksen so soon, as he only started training with us yesterday, but Matias Vecino and Barella were the only available midfielders,” 

Eriksen has character and raises the quality level of the squad. I hope to get more players back, because we really are limited in the middle.

We tried a system with a trequartista today to deal with the absence of Stefano Sensi and Marcelo Brozovic. Eriksen can play in a few different roles, and we’ll see – it could be an option, but we need to work on it a lot more.

“We were rather forced into using the three strikers together because I found out about the problems in midfield.”

Inter had the better of proceedings for large swathes of Thursday’s meeting at the San Siro, but Martin Caceres had cancelled out Antonio Candreva’s opener prior to Barella’s wonderful half-volley.

“I tried and it went right into the far bottom corner. I must learn to score easier goals,” joked Italy international Barella to Rai Sport.

“We deserved this victory. We must give more in Serie A, but we’ve also been a little unlucky in some circumstances. There’s time, it’s a long campaign.”

Barella seems set to compete with Eriksen for a starting spot in Inter’s midfield, but the 22-year-old is relishing the opportunity to play alongside the former Spurs man.

“My adventure at Inter is going very well, everyone has faith in me and we are doing something important,” Barella added.

“Eriksen is world class and will raise the quality level of the whole squad. I hope he can soon make San Siro burst with joy.”