Zanetti: Injuries to blame

Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti believes the European champions poor form is simply down to their lengthy injury list.

Last season’s Serie A winners host Dutch title holders FC Twente at the San Siro on Wednesday in Group A of the Champions League, needing a morale-boosting victory after a run of five games without a win in all competitions.

Rafael Benitez’s side are floundering in sixth place in the Serie A and nine points behind leaders and city rivals AC Milan, while their recent 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur knocked the holders off top spot in their Champions League group.

But Zanetti was keen to preach calm ahead of the match with third-placed Twente, who would go above their hosts should their register a shock victory in Milan.

“When most of the players were fit, everybody said we were even better than last season,” Zanetti said. “Now they say we are playing badly, worse than last season. But if you look at our injury list, we are missing a lot of men, most of them key players.”

That injury list includes Walter Samuel (knee ligaments), Cristian Chivu (groin), Diego Milito and goalkeeper Julio Cesar (both thigh), who will all miss the clash with Twente.

“It is just a tough time for us,” Zanetti said. “We’ve been unlucky; we are not at our best, but we’re looking ahead and we understand that the criticism is normal in the circumstances.”

“These things happen, and in some of those games we deserved more.”

“In football, things can change fast, and we are doing our best to turn it around and play with the passion that Moratti wants from us.”

And the club captain was also at pains to stress his support for under-fire head coach Benitez.

“You cannot judge Benitez from what we have seen lately,” Zanetti said. “You have to wait until he has all the players back. We want to achieve something good with him.”

“First of all, though, we want to win tomorrow. We know that Twente can play well and that’s why we had a tough first game against them, so we have to pay attention.”

“We have to keep calm, and believe that things can change, starting from tomorrow; we will do what we can to make it happen.”