Inter maintain focus on Serie A

Inter will not be distracted by their impending Coppa Italia semi-final when they face Fiorentina on Sunday, according to coach Leonardo.

The Coppa is Inter’s last chance of silverware this season after losing pace with AC Milan in the Serie A title race, and they will take a 1-0 advantage into the second leg of their semi against Roma on Wednesday.

But Leonardo said the match against Fiorentina at the weekend was his immediate concern, as his side look to secure second place in the league.

“Our targets have not yet been reached and so Fiorentina are just as important as Roma if we want to secure second place,” Leonardo said.

“We’ve had two whole weeks to work on training and I doubt we’ll have a problem facing two games in three days.”

The coach admitted it was disappointing not to be challenging for the title at this stage of the season, but defended his team’s performance.

“There is obviously bitterness that we weren’t able to leapfrog those in front of us in the table, but whoever wins deserves it,” Leonardo said.

“That is always the case. We battled, dealt with the problems we had and pushed on, but what we are now is a reality. We are a team.”

“Nobody is thinking about what could happen next season. We have a competitive squad capable of fighting on all fronts and that is what we did.”

“You can say what you want, but we’re second in Serie A, reached the Champions League quarter-finals and are challenging to win the Coppa Italia.”

The Brazilian confirmed Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder would be missing as well as Walter Samuel, and also took the opportunity to defended out-of-form striker Diego Milito.

“Sneijder will certainly not be there, while Walter Samuel has trained regularly and his condition is being evaluated day by day,” Leonardo said.

“Diego Milito had three thigh strains in a season, so it’s impossible for a player to give his best in those conditions.”