Benitez, Inter narrow focus on Club World Cup

Inter Milan coach Rafael Benitez has set his sights on the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi to give his faltering side a much-needed boost.

An injury-ravaged and under-strength Inter crashed to a 3-0 defeat at Werder Bremen in the Champions League on Tuesday night to slump to a second-place finish in Group A behind Tottenham.

It means they face the possibility of a last 16 clash against one of Europe’s heavyweights, such as Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea or Real Madrid, guided by former Inter boss Jose Mourinho.

That defeat was also Inter’s seventh of the season in all competitions, matching the number of defeats the club suffered during the whole of the last campaign under Mourinho, when they went on to lift the treble.

In Serie A they are in fifth place and 10 points behind leaders AC Milan, but Benitez believes the Club World Cup can provide a welcome tonic to their league and European woes.

“Our aim is clear, it’s the Club World Cup and (on Tuesday) we saw that clearly,” said Benitez, who chose to rest first-team players such as Lucio and Wesley Sneijder in Bremen and give 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Paolo Orlandoni his debut in Europe’s premier club competition.

“We played like a team that had already qualified (for the knockout stage).

“The match that was really important was the one we won at home to Twente (to qualify).

“This time we tried out some young players, which is the only positive aspect of the game; we didn’t want to risk anyone.”

Inter leave for the United Arab Emirates on Friday and play their first match on December 15 against either Koreans Seongnam Ilhwa, local side Al-Wahda or Heraki United of Papua New Guinea.

Should they win that, they are expected to face Brazilians Internacional in the final.

“Our mentality will change, injured players will be back and things will definitely be different,” vowed Benitez.

“Now we will show our pride for what we’re going to tackle and I believe everyone will do well.”

Benitez also brushed off speculation surrounding his future at Inter.

“I spoke to the president (Massimo) Moratti before the game and we agreed to do everything possible to win in Bremen but without taking any risks in view of the Club World Cup, so I’m calm,” he said.

“We haven’t yet seen the true Inter with the players who made a difference last season.”

That was a feeling shared by Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta, who played 74 minutes on his first start since injury.

“I don’t think we’ve yet shown that we’re the same team as last year but the opportunity we have to play in this tournament and the players we have coming back from injury will help our morale, our confidence and our play,” he said.