Inter v Wolfsburg: Gung-ho a no-go for Ranocchia

Andrea Ranocchia has warned Inter against taking a gung-ho approach in their bid to reverse a 3-1 deficit in Thursday’s UEFA Europa League last-16 tie against Wolfsburg.

Robert Mancini’s men took a fifth-minute lead through Rodrigo Palacio’s strike in last week’s encounter at the Volkswagen Arena.

However, Naldo made it 1-1 by half-time before Wolfsburg’s man-of-the-moment Kevin De Bruyne scored twice in the second half to hand Dieter Hecking’s men a commanding lead ahead of the return match at San Siro.

Despite the visitors’ advantage, Inter captain Ranocchia believes it would be foolhardy to go all-out attack from the off as it could leave them vulnerable to the counter-attack.

“It’s a win-or-bust match. There’s every chance that they’ll have relaxed after the first-leg result and I’m sure our fans will give us great support,” he told Sky Sport Italia. 

“We need to be solid right from the off, without giving anything away or taking any unnecessary risks. There’s no need for us to rush because we have 90 minutes still to play. 

“There are many factors at play when you concede and every goal has its own explanation. 

“We risk conceding too often and that’s something we absolutely cannot do against Wolfsburg. We compete for a place in the quarter-finals tomorrow night – there’s everything to play for, for us and for them.

“I hope they [the supporters] come to the stadium in their droves. We need their support from the first minute to the last.”

Inter, who are likely to be without forward Xherdan Shaqiri (thigh), have failed to win their past four matches and face a Wolfsburg team brimming with confidence in the Bundesliga.

Hecking’s men have lost just once in their past 21 outings in all competitions and followed up their win over Inter by defeating Freiburg 3-0 to cement second place in the league.

De Bruyne was on the scoresheet again in that fixture and the Belgium international now has nine league goals and 16 assists to his name in what has been a superb campaign.

Wolfsburg are without the suspended Naldo for the second leg.

And his likely replacement at centre-back, Timm Klose, has warned of the perils Wolfsburg face against an Inter team who are unbeaten in their past 11 UEFA home matches and have kept clean sheets in four of their five European matches at San Siro this term.

“We want to progress,” he said. “But we’ll have our work cut out for us.”