Inter, Udinese eyeing European places

Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni is expecting an emotional day when his side travels to Udinese on Wednesday.

It will be the first time a game has been played at the Stadio Friuli in Udine since Piermario Morosini, an on loan Udinese player, died while playing for Livorno on April 14.

Inter are undefeated since Stramaccioni took charge in March and will look to continue their Serie A revival as they strive for European qualification next season.

Inter are seventh in the Serie A standings, three points behind fourth-placed Udinese with five games left to play.

“If today we’re here preparing and talking about (Wednesday’s) game it’s because of a moment of great sorrow for the football world and for everyone,” Stramaccioni said.

“Maybe the fact we will be playing it in Udine, Piermario’s second home, is even more important for us.”

Fiorentina held Inter to a scoreless draw on Sunday, leaving Stramaccioni without a victory on the road in his short time at the helm of Inter.

“We’ve analysed what went wrong in Florence, where we didn’t manage to do everything we wanted to on the pitch, and this enhances our desire to play well,” Stramaccioni said.

“Since my arrival here we haven’t managed to win an away game yet and we know that’s wrong.”

Udinese head coach Francesco Guidolin, meanwhile, has called for a faultless performance from his side as they aim to clinch the third and final Champions League berth next season.

Udinese drew 1-1 away to Chievo on Sunday and remain three points adrift of third-placed Lazio.

“We know that against Inter we need a better performance than the one against Chievo,” Guidolin said.

“It’s clear that we need a change of rhythm, we need to play the game our way. We need a perfect game, we need to be in good form, we need everything any team needs.

“We need not to make any mistakes and remain focused and be strong.

“Hopefully we’ll manage it, that’s what we told each other, hopefully we will manage to put into practice all these things and gain a positive result.

“Inter are a team of champions, and against teams of champions you need to play a perfect game, without mistakes, nothing out of place.

“That’s Inter, they’re able to get any kind of result on any kind of pitch, so we need to be at the top of our game.”