Inzaghi cautious of AC Milan after recent derby frustrations

Although Inter are enjoying a far more successful campaign than neighbours AC Milan, Simone Inzaghi remains cautious after a poor run in this season’s derbies.

Inter top the Serie A standings, Milan sit in ninth. Inzaghi’s side are on a five-match win streak in all competitions, while Milan have lost four of their last six games.

The pair will meet again on Wednesday in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final, which will be their fourth meeting in all competitions so far this season.

However, in the three meetings so far, Milan have won twice, including a comeback victory in the Supercoppa Italiana final in January.

Inter salvaged a 1-1 draw in the third meeting in February, but bragging rights in the 116-year-old rivalry belong to Milan ahead of Wednesday’s match.

“We know we had difficulties this year, especially in the first one. The other two were balanced,” Inzaghi told reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s a Coppa Italia semi-final with Milan. It’s a derby, there’s a great desire to play an excellent match, knowing that we will be facing a quality opponent who have created many problems this year, not only for us.”

Inzaghi is happy with how Inter have fared this season, holding a three-point lead over Napoli in Serie A, and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Feyenoord. They will face Bayern Munich in the last eight, with the first leg taking place next week.

“The goal was to get to April in the running for all competitions. We know that now comes the hard part, but it’s a source of great pride to be in all competitions,” the 48-year-old said.

Inzaghi said Milan were capable of causing trouble for any opponent, as they demonstrated in November in an excellent 3-1 win at Real Madrid in the league phase of the Champions League.

“We know it’ll be a challenge to be played over 180 minutes,” he added.

“We saw the last game, the derbies with us, the game against Real Madrid. It’s a quality team, which has had some difficulties during the season, but in single games they have worried everyone. We’ll need to be very careful.”