While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
While forwards Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku were winning the headlines for Inter last season, just behind them Nicolò Barella was quietly making a name for himself as well. The young midfielder marked his Champions League debut with a late goal against Slavia Praha to earn a point in Prague, then established himself as a cornerstone of the midfield as Antonio Conte’s side reached the Europa League final. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder with a passing range to please any striker, it’s easy to see why Barella so impressed Antonio Conte that the likes of Christian Eriksen have struggled for playing time. Here he looks ahead to the new Champions League campaign, reveals what makes this Inter side tick and explains why a bit of Sardinian blood can take you a long way.
Thank you for the compliment, but I still have a lot to prove. There have been many other players who have done well, so I can only hope to become even more important. Being Sardinian is something that I am very proud of, and especially having been born in Cagliari. We may appear to be a very close-minded culture but we have a lot of inner strength that ties us together, and that makes me really proud.
It really depends on the manager, as everyone has their own interpretation of it. Here the mezzala is expected to go deep and be good at interpreting both phases of play in order to help out in defending and attacking. He’s the bridging agent between the two.
Different managers have seen different skills in me and I’d like to thank them all, because they’ve taught me how to play in many different positions. I’ve always tried to interpret them all in my own way. So, I’ve learned a lot and these teachings will certainly help me a lot in my career.
I think the comparison between Xavi and myself is far-fetched [laughs]. Players like Xavi are one in a million. He is unique and has proven so with a glittering career. It’s inconceivable for me to be compared to him. On the other hand, these comparisons are nice, of course. They’re an additional motivation to improve myself, but I’m a team player and I do what my manager asks me to do in my own way.
Yes. As I’ve always said, my idol was [Dejan] Stanković. I’ve always been a fan of his style of play and of his goals, especially. He was also a versatile midfielder and had an individual interpretation of all the midfield positions. That’s something that has always fascinated me.
Yes and no. He hasn’t given me any direct advice on my position, but he’s helped me a lot since I’ve come here. I’ve grown into a more complete player and, although the praise I’ve received is nice, I feel that I have become better at managing games and improving my timing. In these aspects he’s helped me a lot.
It was very emotional because I wasn’t in the starting XI and didn’t even expect to come on, so it was a strange feeling. I guess that my joyful scream was muted because I had only scored to earn us a draw and not a winning goal. Let’s just say that I was very happy but at the same time sad not to have helped my team to win.
It was our first year and we’ve developed, which has helped us to achieve some important things. Maybe just the last step was missing. In the group stage we played some great games against Barcelona and Dortmund but, in the end, we lost away to those teams. That’s what we have to do better. We have to close the game out and not leave games open when we face big teams.
It was fantastic. After a difficult period with the lockdown, we started playing again with a lot of matches in a short space of time. And in the Europa League we created a fantastic, harmonious group together. Our only regret was going home without the trophy, but I hope that there’ll be time to lift a trophy sooner or later.
It’s really nice. In fact, I thanked Romelu. I said that he was too nice, because I’m the type of player that thinks about the team before I think about myself. Sometimes, it leads me to make certain mistakes, but I’m not interested in scoring goals. I’m interested in doing my bit and winning together, and I hope that doing my bit helps the team to achieve our goals and to win.
That’s a difficult one. That was a great team with some extraordinary players. Not that this team hasn’t got any, but we have to show it on the pitch. They showed it on the pitch. With our upward trajectory, we’ll try to do our best.
