Spalletti: Perisic like Ronaldo

By Football Italia staff

Luciano Spalletti claims Ivan Perisic ‘is the only player’ who can rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s physicality, while Lautaro Martinez can play with Mauro Icardi.

Perisic has been a virtual ever-present in Croatia’s run to the World Cup Final, during the same summer that Juventus have signed Ronaldo, while much has been said about Martinez’s compatibility with Icardi, given both Argentines are pure centre-forwards.

“Brozovic and Perisic? I’ll support Croatia in the Final, without a doubt,” concluded the Inter Coach in the fourth and final part of his Press conference.

“Brozovic dictated the performance of his team against England. To let him play in the middle, they even moved someone like Modric. That says a lot about his value.

“With him, the ball is always alive. He makes the ball play and has so much quality. Perisic is the only player who can be compared to Ronaldo from a physical point of view.

“He’s quick, strong and he can score more goals, even with his head. They’ve gained more exposure at the World Cup and they’ll make themselves available to Inter. They feel good here and want to do well here.

“Tactics? We’ve worked on a back four so far, so we’ll go with that against Lugano tomorrow. Then against Sion, we’ll play with a back three.

“Can Lautaro and Icardi play together? Why not? They have to go and put themselves in a team situation, be able to share the workload and pass the ball to each other as often as possible so an understanding can be found.

“Initially, the back three will cater for a 3-4-2-1 and then also a 3-4-1-2. Icardi could’ve scored even more last season, so why can’t he this time around?

“Greetings? I want to say ‘thank you’ to those who are no longer at Inter. Without them I wonder if we would’ve qualified for the Champions League.

“The same applies to the fans. Thank goodness there’s no FFP when it comes to them. Cancelo and Rafinha? We weren’t in a position to oppose certain financial parameters. We have to respect them.”

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